New
Zealand’s Paul Coll claimed a third successive PSA World Tour title
after overcoming Hong Kong’s Tsz Fung Yip in the final of the ILT -
Community Trust NZ Southern Invercargill Open, PSA M15 tournament
held in the Squash City club in Invercargill.
Top seed Coll came into the event following back-to-back victories
on home soil at the Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers New Zealand PSA Classic
and the Squashways Christchurch Open, and dropped just one game,
against semi-final opponent Rex Hedrick, en route to the final.
Fung Yip, meanwhile, was also in fine fettle in the build up to the
showpiece finale, and the number two seed followed up wins over Evan
Williams and Joshua Larkin by triumphing over the in-form Englishman
Angus Gillams in the last four.
It was Fung Yip who started the brighter of the two, and the World
No.49 went 6-3 up in game one, before Coll found his range and
rattled off eight points in succession to go 1-0 up. A dominant
display from Greymouth-born Coll then saw him concede just three
points in the second game as he doubled his advantage. Fung Yip dug
in his heels though, and won the battle of wills in the third after
overturning a match ball for Coll to claw a game back and send the
match into a highly-charged fourth game.
A vociferous crowd was treated to a series of gruelling rallies
which saw both players exhibit great energy, athleticism and agility
as they sought to push each other to the limit. Coll, the World
No.34, came out on top in the crucial moments and snuck ahead
towards the end of the game to close out a hard-fought 11-6, 11-3,
13-15, 11-8 victory in 54 minutes to lift his 11th PSA World Tour
title and extend his unbeaten run to 12 matches.
The top four seeds in the ILT – Community Trust NZ Southern
Invercargill Open, headed by New Zealand No.1 Paul Coll, will
contest the semi-final places of the PSA M15 tournament held in the
Squash City Club.
Coll, who is looking to claim three successive PSA World Tour titles
for the first time in his career, took to the court against
England’s Joshua Masters and forced a number of errors from the
number six seed after working him around the court well to take the
opening game.
A strong response from Masters in game two saw the duo trade points
until the mid-way point, where more errors from the 21-year-old
gifted Coll a two-game advantage, who then dictated the tempo of the
third to take it for the loss of a single point, securing an 11-5,
11-8, 11-1 victory to send him through to the semi-final.
Coll will line up against Australia’s Rex Hedrick for a place in the
showpiece finale, with Hedrick coming through an entertaining
three-game match against Welshman Peter Creed.
Angus Gillams, the Englishman who has won two of his last five PSA
World Tour events, will join Coll and Hedrick in the last four
courtesy of a 3-1 triumph against eighth seed James Huang. He will
face Tsz Fung Yip in the next round, with Fung Yip beating Joshua
Larkin in a match that ended with a stunning 39-shot rally.
New Zealand No.1 Paul Coll spearheaded the charge of the top seeds
in the opening round of the ILT – Community Trust NZ Southern
Invercargill Open, PSA M15 tournament as all eight seeded players
progressed to the quarter-final stage at the Squash City club.
Coll, who has won his last two tournaments, came up against
compatriot Lance Beddoes in his first round encounter, with the duo
meeting for the third time on the PSA World Tour. The 24-year-old
proved to be too strong for his fellow New Zealander and Coll
dominated the court to triumph by a comfortable 11-1, 11-4, 11-3
margin of victory.
The World No.34, who incidentally played his 200th match on the PSA
World Tour, will look to extend his nine-match unbeaten run against
England’s Joshua Masters in the last eight after he recovered from a
2-0 deficit to beat Australian qualifier Rhys Dowling.
Last year’s runner-up Tsz Fung Yip is also through to the
quarter-final after he saw off the attentions of home player Evan
Williams. Fung Yip, who lost out to Raphael Kandra in the 2015
final, was clinical and precise with his shots throughout the course
of the 29-minute fixture and stifled Williams’s attempts to hit
winners to come through in three and set up a next round meeting
with Joshua Larkin, who overcame Matias Tuomi.
Meanwhile, Rex Hedrick will contest a quarter-final fixture with
Welshman Peter Creed after they beat Ashley Davies and wildcard Ben
Grindrod, respectively.
The other quarter-final encounter sees England’s Angus Gillams pit
his wits against James Huang of Taiwan. Gillams achieved a routine
straight games victory against Sion Wiggin to advance unscathed,
while Huang swept past Mohd Syafiq Kamal to win 3-0.
