Tournament top seed Charles Sharpes captured his seventh PSA World Tour
title courtesy of a win in straight games over Frenchman Christophe
Andre in the title decider of the 2016 London Open, PSA M10 tournament
held at the Cumberland Lawn Tennis Club.
London-based Sharpes was performing in front of his home fans, but
required five-games each to see off qualifiers Peter Marshall and Adam
Auckland, before downing number three seed Tom Ford to reach the
showpiece finale.
Andre’s path to the final was more straightforward as the World No.102
put Brian Byrne, Peter Creed and Mohd Syafiq Kamal to the sword to book
his place in a 10th PSA World Tour final.
The Frenchman was powerless to stop an inspired Sharpes though, as the
World No.52 powered through to win it by an 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 margin,
earning his second PSA World Tour crown of the year.
In the Women’s PSA W5 tournament, Egyptian World No.50 Nada Abbas
claimed her second PSA World Tour title at the age of just 16, beating
English qualifier Julianne Courtice in five.
Courtice, the World No.122, was appearing in back-to-back finals for the
first time in her career having battled through qualifying, and
impressed in the early stages of the final as she went a game ahead.
But Abbas – one of the few members of the PSA World Tour born in the
21st century – battled back to take the next two games, before Courtice
took the fourth on a tie-break to set up a decider, which Abbas won for
the loss of four points to record an 8-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-13, 11-4
triumph as her burgeoning career continues to flourish.
