World No.54 Alfredo Avila completed a remarkable quartet of
giant-killing performances to defeat Indian Saurav Ghosal in the final
of the Abierto Colombiano de Squash Club el Nogal, PSA M50 tournament -
becoming the tournament’s first Mexican champion in the process.
After coming through qualification to secure his place in the main draw
the 24-year-old from Mexico City proceeded to upset all the odds by
brushing aside World No.21 Fares Dessouki, World No.12 Borja Golan and
World No.7 Peter Barker to secure his place in the final.
The title-decider began in edgy fashion, with both players happy to duel
it out in extended rallies, before Avila surged to take eight
consecutive points, and the game. While Kolkata’s Ghosal responded to
take the second, Avila, buoyed by opening up the early lead, utilised
his pace and physical style to eventually see out the match in
55-minutes, taking it 11-9, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8 and become the first
qualifier to triumph in Bogota.
“I am really, really happy to have won today, but not just today, also
to have won every hard match during the tournament,” said Avila.
“This is my first title in a PSA M50 tournament and this is amazing for
me and my people.”
Women's
Final
Lust Wins At Her Second Final In
Bogata
A more mature Victoria Lust in her
second final in Bogota, the British pressed from the start, the
Colombian, Catalina Pelaez who was inspired and encouraged by the
audience.
The first game Catalina looked anxious, less precise than the previous
day and Victoria took the first without major problems.
She continued to attack and the Colombian was inaccurate in the second
game, while Victoria was rallying strong and confidently. In the
3rd, Catherine made the game more even, but Victoria was clear in her
intention not to miss his second chance in the final, with good game
management she took the title.
Top Seeds Stunned In
Bogota
Top seeded World No.4 Miguel Angel Rodriguez and second seed Peter
Barker, the World No.7, fell to shock defeats at the hands of India’s
Saurav Ghosal and Mexican qualifier Alfredo Aliva in the semi-finals of
the 2015 Abierto Colombiano de Squash Club el Nogal, PSA M50 tournament
taking place in Bogota.
Defending champion and local hero Rodriguez lost out to Ghosal, the
World No.19 from Kolkata, in a thrilling 101 minute encounter that
enthralled the crowd. Ghosal, who halted World Junior Champion Diego
Elias in the quarters, came out in inspired form to take the opening two
games before the typically tenacious Rodriguez fought back to force a
decider.
A nail-biting fifth game went all the way to a tie-break where Ghosal
showed his steely determination to edge it and move into his second
consecutive final.
“I am delighted to have won today,” said Ghosal. “It is a great win to
beat Miguel in Colombia and I guess it required a special match and
performance to beat him.
“He is one of my best friends on tour and I hope we entertained the
crowd, as much as we were hurting. Miguel pushed like crazy and showed
what a champion he is.
“Hopefully, I will recover well for tomorrow.”
Ghosal will now face Mexican qualifier Avila, who haven already beaten
Egypt’s Farres Dessouki and Spain’s Borja Golan, continued his
giant-killing form to come from two games down to take out Barker - who
is ranked 47 places higher in the world rankings.
“I am really happy to have won today and all the other matches,” said
Avila.
“Every match I have played was really hard and today isn’t an exception.
I was 2-0 down and I just tried to keep pushing and change my game and
it worked to get me to the fifth game. I am so excited to be in my first
final in a tournament of this size.”
Alfredo Avila Pulls Off A Second Consecutive Upset
24-year-old qualifier Alfredo Avila, the
World No.54, pulled off a second consecutive upset to defeat World No.12
Borja Golan in the quarter-finals of the Abierto Colombiano de Squash
Club el Nogal, PSA M50 tournament taking place in Bogota.
The un-fancied Mexican completed a straight-games victory over Egypt’s
World No.21 Fares Dessouki in the opening round and continued his rich
vein of form to come from a game down and see off former World No.5
Golan in a tense 53-minute battle.
Avila utilised his pace and never-say-die attitude to weather and early
storm from Golan, and despite dropping the first game 6-11, his
unrelenting pressure paid dividends in the second as Golan cracked and
Avila levelled by taking the game 11-9. The third and fourth games
followed a similar pattern with the South American making the most of
his high-altitude experience to take the crucial points and seal a 6-11,
11-9, 11-9, 11-9 triumph.
He will now face Peter Barker in the semi-finals after the Englishman
progressed unchallenged by Cesar Salazar, the Mexican succumbing to
injury after the first game, while local favourite and tournament top
seed Miguel Angel Rodriguez kept his hopes of winning back-to-back
titles in his home town alive.
Rodriguez dominated against Egypt’s Zahed Mohamed, winning 3-1, as he
asserted his credentials as the man to beat and he will take on India’s
Saurav Ghosal in the last four after the 28-year-old from Kolkata ended
the hopes of teenage sensation Diego Elias in a hard-fought 3-1
encounter.
Women's Event
All four of the top seeded players have claimed a spot in the next round
of the Abierto Colombiano de Squash Club el Nogal, PSA W15 event after
triumphing at the quarter-final stage.
Nikki Todd was the only player to flirt with elimination after a
gruelling five-game-thriller against sixth seeded Mexican Diana Garcia.
The Canadian opened up an early 2-0 lead but found herself up against it
in a mammoth third game which Garcia took after a gargantuan tie-break.
Garcia continued her revival in the fourth to level things up but, after
a highly-charged fifth and final game, Todd managed to edge out a
hard-fought 11-8, 11-8, 15-17, 8-11, 11-8 victory to reach the
semi-final stage for the first time this year.
She has a tough encounter with top seed Victoria Lust up next after she
blasted past Nayelly Hernandez with a comfortable straight games victory
while number two seed Samantha Teran put her fresh legs to good
advantage after her first round bye to scythe through Thaisa Serafini in
three games.
The World No.30 is set to face home hope Catalina Pelaez for a place in
the final after she eased by seventh seed Melina Turk.
Elias
Stuns Elshorbagy In Colombia
Peruvian
Diego Elias, the 18-year-old who last week became just the fourth player
in history to win the Wold Junior Championship for a second time,
produced a sublime performance to knock out number four seed Marwan
Elshorbagy (right) in the first round of the Abierto Colombiano de
Squash Club el Nogal, PSA M50 tournament in Bogota.
Elshorbagy, the last player before Elias to lift the World Junior title
on two occasions, began the encounter strongly by taking the opening
game 11-9 but from there on in he couldn’t match the youngster who is in
the form of his life - having also claimed PanAm Games Silver during the
summer.
Elias dominated the last three games, outworking Elshorbagy to frustrate
the World No.13 and seal an impressive 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 (45m)
triumph.
Elias will now face Indian number one Saurav Ghosal in the
quarter-finals after the 28-year-old from Kolkata wasted no time in
dismissing wildcard Sebastian Laguna, taking just 18-minutes to complete
a 3-0 win, while local favourite and tournament top seed Miguel Angel
Rodriguez, the World No.4 and 2015 PanAm Games Gold medal winner, moved
into the last eight with a straightforward 3-0 win over Shaun Le Roux.
Elias wasn’t the only surprise victor during the opening day of
competition, with Mexican qualifier Alfredo Avila producing one of his
finest ever performances on the PSA World Tour to secure an impressive
win over talented Egyptian player Fares Dessouki - utilising his
on-court pace and attack to overcome the 33 places between the pairing
on the World Rankings and seal a straight games victory.
Avila will face Spanish number three seed Borja Golan in the
quarter-finals with the winner set to face either World No.7 Peter
Barker of England or Mexico’s World No.28 Cesar Salazar in the last
four.
