Frenchman
Lucas Serme
fulfilled his top-seeding in the Rotterdam Open
when he won the PSA Challenger 5
squash title at Victoria Squash
in the second largest city in the Netherlands.
The UK-based 22-year-old dropped his only game of the tournament in
the quarter-finals when he was tested for 82 minutes by sixth-seeded
Englishman Mark Fuller.
Serme recovered to soar past Germany’s No.4 seed Tim Weber
in a straight games semi to earn his eighth appearance in a PSA World Tour
final.
His opponent, Spaniard Carlos Cornes Ribadas Ribadas,
celebrated his first ever Tour final appearance after upsetting
Scotland’s No.2 seed Douglas Kempsell
in the other semi.
The third seed from Santiago de Compostela was meeting Serme, the
world No66, for the first time for almost two years.
But the lower-ranked Spaniard was unable to exact revenge, going
down 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 in 45 minutes to give Serme the sixth Tour
title of his career – and his second this year.
“I had a tough start in the match
as I was still tired from yesterday’s matches,”
explained the victorious Frenchman (pictured below, left, with
Ribadas) afterwards. “So, I aimed for long rallies,
while trying to have Carlos move around the court a lot. “When I saw he became more and
more tired and started to make mistakes, I could relax and play
basic squash, which paid off in the end.”
