Farida Walid and Heston Malik are Mozart Open 2026 Champions

Thrid seed Farida Walid (EGY, WRL 114) and ninth seed Heston Malik (ENG, WRL 168) won their finals of the Mozart Open PSA World Ranking tournament today in impressive styles. It was not just the final day of the Mozart Open but also of the Austrian Squash Challenge overall and the big car, garden an leisure exhibition that ran simultaneously and what guaranteed many spectators on each day at the glasscourt.

First on court were topseed Breanne Flynn (IRL, WRL 104) and 17-year old Farida Walid. The teenager showed great racket skills and created some nice winners. But her opponent fought hard to stay in the game and used here experience as got closer in the second and third game. However the Egyptian had the better answers in the crucial moments and deserved to win.

The men’s final was very entertaining too. 20-year old Heston Malik already had a great run in the tournament taking out topseed Rowan Damming (NED; WRL 94) in the first round and two more higher seeded players in the quarterfinal and semfinal. On the other hand 6th seed Will Salter came past second seed Jakub Solnicky (CZE, WRL 124) and local hero Aqeel Rehman (AUT, WRL 138).

The game started with Heston Malik being dominant and more clinical with his shots. However his English compatriot did well to equalize after the second game. But it was again Heston Malik that could step up one more time to take over the lead again. Even a short blood injury break at the end of the fourth game couldn’t stop him from winning the match.

Here are the final results:

Farida Walid (EGY, WRL 114) – [1] Breanne Flynn (IRL, WRL 103) – 11/6, 11/8 ,11/8, 33min
Heston Malik (ENG, WRL 168) – [6]Will Salter (ENG, WRL 150) 11/8, 6/11, 11/6 11/4, 54min

Congratulations to our new Mozart Open Champions! We want to thank all the players how showed amazing performances over the week. The spectators were very amused by the level of play and also the management of our new venue Messezentrum Salzburg showed great appreciation for the whole event!

We want to thank them and all our sponsors for making this event possible.

A summary report will follow shortly! Meanwhile enjoy the pictures in our gallery!