Beeson Buzzing On Day Two At European Masters

Bryan Beeson revelled in the chance to relive former glories as the former world no.9 reached the quarter-finals on day two of the 2025 ESF European Masters Individual Championships in Poland.

The 1986 British national champion, who won the European Team Championship six times with England between 1985-1990, is top seed in the men's O65 category this week at the world-famous Hasta La Vista Club in Wroclaw.

Left-hander Beeson showed plenty of his old magic in reaching the last eight with straight-games victories over Sweden's 17/32 seed Jonas Frick and 9/16 seed Milan Vlasák from Czechia.

Playing top-level Masters squash evokes fond memories for Beeson, who beat all-time great Jansher Khan twice during his professional career.

"In Europe, you get such a good number of entries in Masters events, so it's a really good tournament to win," he said. "I think more people should come and play, including ex-professionals.

"You come to these events and it really motivates you to keep playing. I can't believe how fit and agile some of the players are in the older age groups."

Beeson, who has a new hip and a metal toe, worked for a pharmaceutical company for 29 years after retiring from pro squash, and now coaches at Durham University.

Meanwhile, former German national champion Astrid Reimer-Kern is top seed in the women's O35 and is just beginning her Masters career.

Reimer-Kern finished third at the World Masters in Amsterdam last summer, and beat both Petra Dryselius of Sweden and Brenda Sariowan of the Netherlands in straight games to maintain her 100% record (the women's 35+ is a group of seven).

"It always means a lot to compete," she said. "When you've played your whole life, you always want to give your best and you're always happy to win."

Asked about the possibility of emulating her compatriot Simone Korell, who holds the women's record of five European Masters titles, she said: "I don't think about this yet, because as you get older you always have to see whether your body is giving up. I will try my best and let's see what happens!"

Host nation Poland has 71 players out of the 604 entrants across 18 age categories in Wroclaw. This reflects the growing strength of Polish squash at all levels, with many big urban clubs bursting with players of all ages and standards.

One of those clubs is Legia Warsaw, where Marc Lopez runs a highly successful junior academy with his wife Natalia.

Lopez represented Spain during his PSA Tour career, but now wears the Polish flag on his chest after being a resident for five years. He is second seed in the men's O35 and cruised into the semi-finals via a 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 victory over former compatriot Pedro Espeleta of Spain.

"It's my first tournament playing for Poland and I am proud of it," said Lopez. "The association are doing a good job, with lots of new programmes. It's growing non-stop, there are a lot of quality clubs and they are fully packed all the time.

"In Warsaw, we have one of the biggest junior academies in Europe. We saw a big achievement in April when our national U15 team reached the final of the European Junior Team event. It proves we are coming up fast."

Another European squash nation on the rise is Czechia, who have a big contingent of players in Wroclaw. Second seed Eva Fertekova won a tough battle with Sweden's 5/8 seed Anna-Carin Forstadius 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 to reach the women's O40 semi-finals, where she will face Germany's 3/4 seed Nicole Seils on Friday.

Fertekova, who won the women's O35 title at the last European Masters in Hamburg and is Secretariat of the Czech Squash federation, said: "Czech Squash has a really good structure to support our juniors and national coaches. It has come together in the last decade and now we have some impact from it."

The European Masters seedings committee will be pleased with their work, because all the top seeds remain in the competition across all age groups, including Dutchman Piedro Schweertman (men's 35+), three-time former title winner Christian Drakenberg of Sweden (men's 50+) and two-time former winner Jill Campion of Wales (women's 65+).