Virginia Pro Champ Rodney Durbach is pleased with his latest success, and is confident that his TVS Broxbourne team will do well in the play-offs ...
Fighting Talk from Durbach
From Ian Taylor on the Hertfordshire Mercury Sports Desk
TVS Broxbourne squash star Rodney Durbach became the inaugural Virginia Professional Squash Champion last weekend.
The South African number one captured the sixth Professional Squash Association (PSA) title of his career at the Country Club of Virginia, and has now set his sights on a place in the World's top 20.
"Winning a competition like this is a major achievement in my career,'' the Pretoria raised 31-year-old said.
"It's all very well reaching the latter stages of a major competition, but winning a minor one like this does wonders for a players confidence.
"Winning a tournament in the US is always a tough proposition and therefore I'm delighted.
"The aim now is to go on and reach the top 20 and then who knows,'' added the World number 31.
The TVS star, who later this year returns home to marry fiancée Zoe Smith - a fellow club player at the Mill Lane Close-based club - overpowered Jan Koukal in a 3-0 victory.
In front of a packed gallery, the determined Springbok produced some spectacular squash, whilst mixing it with some thoughtful strokes that inevitably gave him the edge over the seventh seeded Czech.
Having won the first game 15-8, the Hertfordshire-based third seed went on to take the second 15-10, before securing the title with a 15-11 third game victory.
"It wasn't as straight-forward as the final scoreline suggests, but as soon as I won the first, I was confident I'd go on to win the title,'' he said.
"I knew prior to the competition that it was a winnable event, but all the same I'm delighted to have won my first event of the year.''
Aside from his personal success, Durbach has been firing on all cylinders for TVS Broxbourne as the club's search for a second National League title continues.
Durbach was part of the all-conquering 1999/2000 squad and is confident the current crop of players are more than capable of matching that great feat.
"Every squad member is playing near their full potential at the moment,'' he said.
"Mark (Chaloner), Alex (Stait), Alistair (Walker) and Natalie (Grainger) are all beginning to hit their peak and we're all looking to take it that step further this year.
"Each and every one of us has matured since last season's semi-final disappointment and we're certainly capable of pulling it off this time around.''
On a personal front, Durbach now travels to Linkoping for the Swedish Open qualifiers.
He'll be joined by Stait and Walker, who like Durbach, will be looking to reach the final stages of a competition with a healthy prize purse of $30,000.
