Dutch number one seed Piedro Schweertman produced a magnificent
comeback from two games down to defeat surprise finalist Charlie Lee
and lift the Silesia Katowice PSA Open, PSA M5 title - his first
tournament win of 2016.
The 32-year-old displayed his title credentials earlier on in the
tournament, with wins over Jami Aijanen, Victor Crouin and Mark
Fuller sending him through to the final, while the unseeded Lee
counted seeded players Jan Koukal and Matthew Hopkin among his
conquests as he secured a maiden PSA World Tour final berth.
Games one and two were close affairs, with World No.215 Lee narrowly
taking the opener on the tie-break before going on to double his
advantage with victory in the second, putting the 18-year-old on the
cusp of a triumph over an opponent 137 places above him in the World
Rankings.
An improved Schweertman, who reached the final of the Malaysian Tour
III on his last PSA World Tour appearance, halted Lee’s momentum
impressively in the third and followed that up by taking the fourth
game in comfortable fashion to level proceedings.
Both competitors went toe-to-toe in a high-octane decider with
Schweertman eventually closing it out to capture his ninth PSA World
Tour title with an 11-13, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9 scoreline.
Top qualifying seed Bradley Masters spearheaded the English charge
in the final qualifying round of the Silesia Katowice PSA Open, PSA
M5 tournament after scything through Germany’s Hendrik Vossing in
straight games.
World No.249 Masters dominated proceedings in Poland and romped to
an 11-7, 11-3, 11-8 victory to seal his main draw berth.
Up next for Masters is a meeting with 17-year-old compatriot Kyle
Finch, with the pair set to face off for the first time on the PSA
World Tour.
Phil Nightingale and Matthew Broadberry are the other Englishmen to
secure their places in the opening round of the main draw after
respective wins over Vojtech Ryba and Tess Juttle.
Nightingale is set to line up against Ireland’s Sean Conroy for a
place in the quarter-final, while Broadberry will go head-to-head
with Norwegian Adrian Ostbye.
Sebastian Bonmalais and local player Marek Wojnarski contested the
other final qualifying round fixture, with the former advancing to
set up a maiden PSA World Tour main draw clash against second seed
Matthew Hopkin.
