Top seed Shehab Essam secured his first ever PSA World Tour title
with a dramatic come-from-behind victory against Geoffrey Demont in
the final of the Savcor Finnish Open, PSA M5 event.
The Egyptian dispatched Israel’s Daniel Poleshchuk in impressive
style in the previous round to seal his spot in the final while a
fine display from Demont saw him move past number two seed Ashley
Davies in four games.
Proceedings started on an even keel with both players trading points
in a match that ebbed and flowed. Demont took the opening game and,
after some decisions went in his favour in game two, pulled away to
open up a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead over his opponent.
It looked like Demont would wrap up the match in straight games
after he surged into a 7-4 lead in the third but a gargantuan effort
from Essam saw the World No.89 turn the match on its head to halve
the deficit and his fightback continued into the fourth as he
levelled up the fixture, setting up a climactic fifth game showdown.
Essam was in command of the tie from that point onwards and powered
through to triumph in the final game, completing the win with a
14-16, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 victory to break his PSA World Tour
title duck.
Äijänen
Brothers Cause Upsets In Finland
#PSAWorldTour
The opening round of the Savcor Finnish Open, PSA M5 tournament saw
two major upsets stun an enraptured crowd as the Äijänen brothers,
Miko and Jami, claimed scalps over second seed Aqeel Rehman and
Frenchman Baptiste Masotti, respectively.
Miko came through qualifying without dropping a game to secure his
main draw berth and the 18-year-old rode the wave of fervent support
from his home crowd to come through a brutal five-game-thriller with
an 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10 victory.
His reward is a quarter-final clash with England’s Ashley Davies
after he saw ousted Kristian Rautiainen 3-2.
Wildcard Jami eliminated seventh seed Masotti in a scintillating
three-game salvo in one of the finest displays of his burgeoning
career. The Fin will face another Frenchman, Geoffrey Demont, for a
place in the semi-final after he laboured to victory against Robert
Dadds.
Top seed Shehab Essam will face Asim Khan in the next round,
meanwhile, after they rose to respective victories over Tristan
Eysele and Bradley Masters.
Israeli number four seed Daniel Poleshchuk is also through to the
quarter-final thanks to his win over Pascal Gomez and he will
contest his last eight fixture with Manuel Wanner who defeated Kale
Wilson.
