Pre-tournament title favourite Arthur Gaskin lived up to his number
one seeding after downing South Korea’s Chang Wook Woo in straight
games in the final of the City of Greater Shepparton International,
PSA M5 tournament.
Gaskin was in imperious form as he battled through the 32-strong
draw to reach a 12th PSA World Tour final, with only qualifier
SangHoon Lee able to win a single game against the rampant Irishman.
Wook Woo, meanwhile, was appearing in his first ever PSA World Tour
final after the unseeded World No.272 upset seeded players Joel Luca
and Connor Sheen en route to the showpiece finale.
Gaskin raced out of the blocks in the final and controlled the
opening exchanges to claim the first game 11-4, before following
that up with an even more dominant display in the second, winning
11-2.
Wook Woo battled hard in the third game and was on the cusp of
clawing a game back, but Gaskin’s class ultimately shone through as
the 31-year-old closed it out 15-13 to bring an end to the 34-minute
encounter and earn a third PSA World Tour crown.
World No.445 Darcy Walsh advanced to the main draw of a PSA World
Tour event for only the second time in his career after beating
fellow Australian Adrian McGregor in the qualifying round of the
City of Greater Shepparton International, PSA M5 tournament.
Walsh, who made his PSA World Tour debut at last month’s Bendigo
International, controlled proceedings against McGregor at the
Goulburn Valley Squash Club and cruised to an 11-4, 11-1, 11-4
triumph to reach the main draw.
The 23-year-old will line up against India’s Sandeep Ramachandran
for a place in the last eight as he aims to reach the quarter-final
of a PSA World Tour event for the first time.
An Australian quartet join Walsh in the main draw, with Aaron
Maidment, Shaun McPhillarmy, Kody Harmes and Mark Kitto all
progressing past qualifying.
Maidment will do battle with Nathan Lindner in the next round, while
McPhillarmy and Harmes will take on Ruan Olivier and David Illich,
respectively. Kitto, meanwhile, will contest his first round clash
with number three seed Syed Azlan Amjad.
Arnold Phat, Shahzad Khan and SangHoon Lee all received byes through
to the main draw and have respective matches against Connor Sheen,
Tyler Hawkins and top seed Arthur Gaskin in store.
