Following her move across the pond in the summer of 2022, AJN sponsored Emma Bartley’s impressive pro-squash career continues to go from strength to strength as she settles into her sports scholarship at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
A string of successful matches for the Drexel Dragons – including wins against Haverford College, Franklin and Marshall College, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Yale University – helped the team retain the coveted Pennsylvania State Squash Championship for the second consecutive year.
After an impressive start to the extremely competitive state college squash circuit, 18-year-old Emma then fought her way to a Quarter Final placing at the 2022 U.S. Junior Open Squash Championships, narrowly missing out to the tournament’s eventual winner and number one seed, Lucie Stefanoni.
The four-day tournament – the largest individual squash tournament in the world – saw 128 entrants compete in the U19 Girls Division with Emma finishing seventh overall.
A return to the UK over the Christmas and New Year period gave Emma the opportunity to compete in the 2023 British Junior Open in Birmingham (4th to 8th January 2023). A run of exciting and hard-fought matches saw the graduate from Abbeygate Sixth Form College in Bury St Edmunds, finish 11th overall in her last U19 British Junior Open tournament.
At just 15 years old, Emma, who was selected to represent England at the 2022 ESF European Championships and Junior World Championships, became one of the youngest members of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and is currently ranked 202 in the world.
