Hinds
In Seventh Heaven After Surviving Belfast Marathon
England's Joel Hinds recorded the longest winning match of his career
when he beat second-seeded compatriot Angus Gillams in the final of the
Legacy Wealth Belfast Open, the inaugural PSA M5 squash event at the
Belfast Boat Club in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The top seed from Derby had to fight back from 2/1 down to see off
Gillams, the No.2 seed from London, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 in 97
minutes to notch up the seventh PSA World Tour title of his career.
Finch
Is A Flier In Belfast Open
Qualifier Kyle Finch continued his superb progress at his first ever
PSA World Tour event with a sublime victory over fourth seed Hugo Varela
in the opening round of the Belfast Open, PSA M5 event.
The 16-year-old, who secured his place in the main draw with a surprise
victory over Matthew Sidaway in qualifying, dominated the encounter with
some accurate shotmaking and intelligent use of the court. The
Southampton-born World No.374 rose to an 11-5, 11-6, 11-1 victory to
move through to the quarter-final.
“I am delighted to be through to this stage in my first PSA World Tour
tournament,” said Finch.
He goes up against South Africa’s Jean-Pierre Brits after the number six
seed overcame a dogged challenge from Josh Taylor in his first round
fixture.
Another youngster, Patrick Rooney, made a good impression with a
stunning scalp of Christo Potgieter. The 18-year-old is ranked 49 places
below his opponent in the World Rankings but it counted for very little
as he blew Potgieter away with a straight games triumph. He has a
testing encounter with Joel Hinds up next after the number one seed
defeated James Peach.
Mike Lewis’ hopes of breaking his PSA World Tour title duck were
distinguished after he suffered defeat to Phil Nightingale. Nightingale
will go up against the Spaniard Edmon Lopez Moller after he defeated
home hope Brian Byrne.
Meanwhile, Angus Gillams and Nick Mulvey will go head-to-head in the
other quarter-final tie after they saw off Kevin Moran and Jon Geekie,
respectively.
