Spain’s Carlos Cornes Ribadas claimed the first PSA World Tour title
of his eight-year career with a hard-fought victory over compatriot
and number three seed Iker Pajares Bernabeu in the final of the
Seapiax Open Lorient, PSA M5 tournament.
Cornes, 27, was appearing in only his second PSA World Tour final
and earned his place there after successive wins over Tiago Goriely,
Roee Avraham and Edmon Lopez Moller.
Pajares, meanwhile, was participating in his maiden Tour final and
hadn’t dropped a single game throughout the event.
It was Pajares who had the better of the opening exchanges as the
20-year-old’s deft touch and intelligent shot-selection enabled him
to overcome his older counterpart on the tie-break and go a game
ahead.
Top seed Cornes refused to give up though and came back with a
vengeance, taking three games without reply, with the latter being
won on the tie-break, to settle the victory by a 10-12, 11-8, 11-6,
12-10 scoreline and end his eight-year barren spell.
French World No.211 Benjamin Aubert bridged an astonishing 101-place
World Rankings gap to stun second seed Michael McCue in the
quarter-final of the Seapiax Open Lorient, PSA M5 tournament.
The 18-year-old, who is set to appear in his first PSA World Tour
semi-final, was in breathtaking form to take out his higher-ranked
opponent and he surged to the win by an 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 margin of
victory to seal his last four berth.
Aubert will face Spain’s Iker Pajares Bernabeu for a place in the
showpiece event after he beat Lewis Walter in straight games.
The Jamaican was powerless to resist as Pajares dominated from the
off to set up a first meeting on the PSA World Tour with Aubert.
The second semi-final will be an all-Spanish encounter, contested by
Edmon Lopez Moller and first seed Carlos Cornes Ribadas, after they
had 3-0 successes over Taminder Gata-Aura and Roee Avraham,
respectively.
