Madeleine Hylland desperate to return to ‘all-time favourite tournament’ to defend Golden Open crown

Golden Open champion Madeleine Hylland has doubled down on a commitment to defend her title next year at the region’s premier squash tournament that sparked a dominant run on the national circuit, underpinned by four championships.

After she defeated India’s Urwashi Joshi 3-1 in the Golden Open final on the June long weekend, Hylland — born in Norway but based in the US — immediately dubbed it her “all-time favourite tournament” when it yielded her maiden PSA victory on her first trip to Australia.

It was also an early present for her 23rd birthday five days later.

Since then, she has embarked on a golden run interstate and grabbed three more titles, capped off by the Victorian Open Championship.

“Ending the tour with four out of six victories is truly a fairytale ending,” Hylland said.

“(But) there were moments on this trip where all I wanted to do was go home (and) what was I thinking that I could do six tournaments in a row on my own in a foreign country.

“Luckily I was never really alone at all and I have all the people supporting me to thank for that.”

Hylland is a four-time Norwegian national champion who wants to represent her country at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

She said the Golden Open was a catalyst towards building newfound confidence and self-belief that has seen her world ranking climb more than 100 spots to 126.

Her aim is to crack the top 100 by September, based on high hopes at the European championships in August.

Hylland was a star squash player for four years at Trinity College, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in economics.

She was drawn to the Golden Open when the annual prize money was doubled to $6000 in each of the women’s and men’s divisions.