Experienced New Zealander Martin Knight captured his second PSA
World Tour title of 2016 with a composed 3-0 victory over second
seed Jan van den Herrewegen in the final of the Rochester ProAm, PSA
M5 tournament.
The 32-year-old booked his place in the showpiece finale after
claiming a hard-fought five-game victory against Clinton Leeuw in
the previous round, while van den Herrewegen defeated wildcard Adam
Perkiomaki, Jesus Camacho and Lewis Walters to seal his final berth.
Knight adopted a tactically astute approach from the outset, with
his consistent length and expert shot selection giving van den
Herrewegen no chance to attack in a one-sided opening game which
went in Knight’s favour.
Van den Herrewegen looked slightly fatigued in the second and Knight
took full advantage, moving his Belgian opponent into the back of
the court with some expertly-placed lobs and he duly doubled his
lead.
The early exchanges of the third game saw both players begin evenly
matched, but Knight’s pace proved too much for van den Herrewegen to
handle in the end and the World No.80 pulled away mid-game to open
up an 11-3, 11-5, 11-5 margin of victory and capture the ninth PSA
World Tour title of his career.
All eight seeded players in the Rochester ProAm, PSA M5 tournament
secured safe passage through to the last eight after progressing
beyond their unseeded counterparts in New York,
Top seed Martin Knight sealed his quarter-final berth after a
virtuoso 3-0 victory over Indian qualifier Supreet Singh in just 27
minutes. The match was a fast-paced affair from the start, with
Knight moving Singh into all four corners of the court with
regularity. The experienced New Zealander controlled proceedings and
duly achieved an 11-4, 11-3, 11-3 victory to reach the next round.
Up next for Knight is a meeting with number five seed Josue Enriquez
after the Guatemalan defeated Albert Shoihet in five.
Belgium’s Jan van den Herrewegen is also through to the next round
after recovering from a game down against wildcard Adam Perkiomaki.
Buoyed by the roar of a partizan home crowd, Perkiomaki stormed out
of the traps and overcame van den Herrewegen in an opening game
tie-break, only to see his precious one-game advantage crumble as
the number two seed fought back to win. Van den Herrewegen will go
head-to-head with Mexico’s Jesus Camacho in the quarter-final after
he overcame compatriot Mario Yanez in a scintillating five-game
thriller.
Elsewhere, Lewis Walters dispatched Aqib Hanif in straight games to
keep his ambitions of claiming a second PSA World Tour title alive.
Walters started slowly and went 8-2 behind in game one before
fighting back to take the opener against all odds. After finding his
rhythm, Walters began to dominate the ’T’ and outmanoeuvred his
opponent to wrap up the win and set up a quarter-final showdown with
Faraz Khan, who beat Ahmad Alzabidi.
South African duo Clinton Leeuw and Thoboki Mohohlo make up the
other quarter-final participants and will face each other after
respective triumphs against Jon Geekie and Diego Gobbi.
The final qualifying round of the Rochester ProAm, PSA M5 tournament
saw three of the four matches go all the way to five games as
qualifying in New York came to an end on an exciting day of action
at the Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center.
Jordan’s Ahmad Alzabidi had to dig deep against number eight
qualifying seed Ismail Hafez in an extremely closely-contested tie.
The early exchanges of the match were marred by unforced errors from
both players but Hafez soon exhibited his class to go a game to the
good thanks to some excellent soft hands and pinpoint volleys.
However, Alzabidi came roaring back and, with the fixture eventually
tied up at two games apiece, the World No.258 dominated the decider
to claim a 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 11-2 victory and a first main
draw berth of 2016.
He is set to face off with United States player Faraz Khan in round
one of the main draw but Alzabidi may hold the advantage, given that
he has won all three of the pair’s previous meetings on the PSA
World Tour.
India’s Supreet Singh is also through to the main draw action thanks
to a 3-2 triumph over Japan’s Tomotaka Endo. Endo, the University of
Rochester squash captain, was backed on by a vociferous local
following and went 2-1 ahead as he looked to be on his way to a
superb win. But Singh came back to take the fourth 18-16 after a
nervy series of rallies and he continued his resurgence into the
fifth to wrap up the victory and set up a main draw meeting with
title favourite Martin Knight.
Meanwhile, Aqib Hanif and Mario Yanez will also participate in the
main draw after rising to wins in their final qualifying round
matches.
Hanif will line up against Jamaican number three seed Lewis Walters,
while Mexico’s Yanez will go head-to-head with compatriot Jesus
Camacho for a place in the last eight.
