Maeve Baker ’23 and Christian Capella ’25 were selected to represent the United States in the most prestigious junior squash tournament in the world, the British Junior Open 2023 in Birmingham, England.
The event featured 673 players from around the world with strong representation from the usual squash powerhouses such as Egypt and Pakistan but also the US and Malaysia.
In Maeve’s first appearance at the British Junior Open, she won her first match easily against Northern Ireland’s Sophia Thomas. In the second round, she had a tough draw, playing against a ¾ seed Malak Khafagy of Egypt. She lost 3-0 in a well-fought match. Maeve went on to beat players from Romania and England. After heading the girl’s squash team at Deerfield, Maeve looks forward to contributing to a strong woman’s team at Stanford.
In Christian’s third time playing in the British Junior Open, he went head-to-head against the number #1 seed, Youseff Salem of Egypt (a likely future squash professional), and the eventual winner of the U17’s. Christian then went on to beat players from France, Hong Kong, and England. Christian is currently in his down year and looks forward to returning next year. He had placed #3 in the British Junior Open tournament at his first go in 2018, which at the time was the highest title any male American had ever achieved. Leading up to the 2023 BJO, Christian has been a two-time national winner and US Open winner in the U15s.
Overall, the US team made history at the British Junior Open this year with 15 quarterfinalists, five semifinalists, and two winners, Madison Ho in the GU17’s and Carlton Capella in the BU13’s. Carlton, Christian ’25 and Lucas ’24 brother is the first male to ever win the British Junior Open.
Congrats to Maeve and Christian on this outstanding achievement!
For more tournament coverage, pictures and match replays visit britishjunioropensquash.com. View pictures from Team USA on the US Squash Smugmug page.