Spanish World No.14 Borja Golan landed his second PSA World Tour
title of the 2015/16 season after defeating Mexico’s Cesar Salazar
in the final of the Sporta IX Torneo Internacional PSA Sporta, PSA
M50 tournament.
Golan made an inauspicious start to the event after battling through
in five against Salazar’s brother, Arturo, in the opening round,
before improving with victories over Egyptian duo Omar Abdel Meguid
and Mazen Hesham in the quarter-final and semi-final stages,
respectively, to secure his final berth.
Salazar, meanwhile, claimed notable wins against World Junior
Champion Diego Elias and number six seed Zahed Mohamed en route to
the showpiece finale, with the latter seeing the Mexican fight back
from two games down to progress.
The duo’s final encounter saw Golan narrowly take the first, before
overcoming a tenacious Salazar on a second-game tie-break to double
his advantage.
From there, the Spaniard rattled off a number of points in quick
succession to seize the initiative in the third game, and the former
World No.5 closed out an 11-8, 13-11, 11-4 triumph to lift a 31st
career PSA World Tour crown.
Spanish former World No.5 Borja Golan fought back from a game down
to defeat Egypt’s Omar Abdel Meguid and reach the semi-final of the
Sporta IX Torneo Internacional PSA Sporta, PSA M50 tournament.
The 33-year-old went down 11-7 in the opening game after a typically
industrious display from Meguid allowed the World No.14 to dominate
the ’T’ against his higher-ranked opponent.
The second and third games were pivotal moments in the match, with a
plethora of gruelling rallies sending each of them to tie-breaks.
Golan, boosted by his 15 years of experience at the top level,
managed to edge ahead in both to take the lead for the first time
and powered to a win in the fourth to close out the victory by a
7-11, 15-13, 14-12, 11-6 scoreline to secure his place in the last
four.
The Spaniard will take on Egyptian maverick Mazen Hesham for a place
in the final after he narrowly staved off an upset by Stephen
Coppinger. The 22-year-old found himself 2-1 down but finally found
his rhythm as his superior shot-making abilities came to the fore
and he recovered to claim the win.
Elsewhere, Cesar Salazar and Zahed Mohamed will go head-to-head in
the other semi-final fixture. Salazar overcame Peru’s Diego Elias,
who had earlier defeated top seed Marwan ElShorbagy, with a 3-1
triumph, while Mohamed came through in five against Alfredo Avila.
World Junior Champion Diego Elias secured the biggest win so far in
his burgeoning career with a superb 3-0 victory over in-form World
No.7 Marwan ElShorbagy in the opening round of the Sporta IX Torneo
Internacional PSA Sporta, PSA M50 tournament.
ElShorbagy has been in scintillating form of late, with last week’s
Houston Open win complimenting the Grasshopper Cup crown he won in
April. However, the Egyptian succumbed to a tie-break loss in the
first game as the talented Peruvian, who won the only previous
meeting between the pair last August, showcased his vast potential
with a number of powerful shots.
Elias then surged to a two-game lead for the loss of just three
points in the second, before fending off a late fightback from
ElShorbagy to close out the win with an 15-13, 11-3, 11-9 scoreline
to ensure that he will face Mexico’s Cesar Salazar for a place in
the semi-final.
Houston Open runner-up Mohamed Abouelghar also fell to a shock loss
after he went down in four games to Alfredo Avila. The scores were
delicately poised at a game apiece, before Avila prevailed on the
tie-break in games three and four to wrap up a big upset. He will
take on Egypt’s Zahed Mohamed in the next round after he saw off the
challenge of wildcard Eddie Charlton.
Spanish second seed Borja Golan flirted with elimination after he
was pushed all the way to five games by Mexican qualifier Arturo
Salazar, but the former World No.5 pulled through to set up a
quarter-final clash with Egypt’s Omar Abdel Meguid, who defeated New
Zealand’s Campbell Grasyon to advance.
World No.17 Mazen Hesham will take on South Africa’s Stephen
Coppinger in the other quarter-final fixture after they beat
Christopher Binnie and Greg Lobban, respectively.
New Zealand’s Campbell Grayson overcame Mexico’s Eric Galvez in a
thrilling five-game affair to book his place in the main draw of the
Sporta IX Torneo Internacional PSA Sporta, PSA M50 tournament.
The number one qualifying seed had almost the worst start to the
match imaginable after going down 11-1 in the opener, but he soon
recovered to build up a 2-1 lead. A high-octane fourth game went all
the way to a dramatic tie-break, which Galvez took 17-15, before
Grayson re-established his grip on proceedings to close out the
fifth and take an extremely hard-fought victory.
Another difficult tie is in store for Grayson in the main draw’s
first round as he goes up against World No.28 Omar Abdel Meguid, the
Egyptian who won three straight PSA World Tour titles between
December 2015 and February of this year.
Finland’s Henrik Mustonen has also achieved a main draw berth after
he too came through in five games. The 25-year-old went up against
fifth qualifying seed Nathan Lake and was pushed hard by the
Englishman as points ebbed and flowed throughout the match. Mustonen
twice saw leads erased by a dogged Lake, but he held on in the fifth
to push the win over the line and set up a fixture with Mexico’s
Cesar Salazar up next.
Christopher Binnie, the World No.86, came up against experienced
campaigner Olli Tuominen in his match and recovered from a 2-1
deficit to overcome the 37-year-old. Binnie will line up against
Egyptian maverick Mazen Hesham in the first round of the main draw,
with Hesham aiming to improve on a semi-final finish at last week’s
Houston Open.
Arturo Salazar, who is the brother of the aforementioned Cesar, will
join his sibling in the main draw thanks to a comfortable straight
games win over India’s Virkam Malhotra. His reward is a round one
matchup with former World No.5 Borja Golan.
Finnish World No.63 Henrik Mustonen moved to within one win of
reaching the main draw of the Sporta IX Torneo Internacional PSA
Sporta, PSA M50 tournament after downing England’s Mark Broekman 3-0
in the first round of qualifying.
Mustonen, a three-time PSA World Tour title winner, was in confident
form and fashioned a number of chances for himself to attack as he
eased to an 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 victory to seal his final qualifying
round berth.
England’s Nathan Lake defeated local Guatemalan Mauricio Sedano to
advance to the final stage of qualifying and he will take on
Mustonen as he bids to make it to his first PSA M50 main draw.
Elsewhere, Mexico’s Arturo Salazar, who prevailed in his last PSA
World Tour event in April’s Northern Open, defeated Ricardo Toscano
3-0 to set up a final qualifying round clash with India’s Vikram
Malhotra, who shrugged off Italo Bonatti.
Salazar’s compatriot, the experienced Eric Galvez, will join his
fellow Mexican in the next round thanks to a comfortable straight
games dismantling of Reuben Phillips, and he will take on top
qualifying seed Campbell Grayson, who received a bye in round one.
Finland’s Olli Tuominen is also through to the next round after he
too was given a bye, and he will pit his wits against Christopher
Binnie after the Jamaican World No.86 overcame Josue Enriquez.
