Sharpes Shakes Off Shaun For Gard Glory
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 5 Open du Gard, Nimes, France
England's Charles Sharpes earned the glory of winning the first
PSA World Tour ranking event of the New Year when he clinched the
Open du Gard title in France.
And
the third-seeded teenager did it the hard way after overcoming the
event's top two seeds en-route to winning the PSA Challenger 5
championship in its fourth year at Sun Squash de Arenes in
Nimes.
Sharpes made his breakthrough in the semi-finals where he led Julien
Balbo by two games before the French favourite retired injured
midway through the third.
In the
final, his fifth on the Tour in just over a year, the 19-year-old from
Kingston-upon-Thames faced former fellow countryman Shaun le Roux,
the second seed who now plays under the South Africa flag.
It was
a closely-contested battle which was poised at two-games-all and 5-5 in
the decider before underdog Sharpes pulled away to win 11-8, 5-11, 11-6,
5-11, 11-7 after 81 minutes.
The
triumph takes marks up the fourth Tour title of Sharpes' career.
1st
round:
[1] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt [Q] Nathan Lake (ENG) 11-9,
11-8, 7-11, 11-1 (67m)
Lucas Serme (FRA) bt Ben Coleman (ENG) 11-9, 11-6, 11-7
(44m)
[Q] Antoine-Camille Petrucci (FRA) bt Geoffrey Demont (FRA)
5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 (51m)
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt Chris Truswell (ENG) 14-12,
11-6, 11-1 (36m)
[4] Joan Lezaud (FRA) bt Robert Downer (ENG) 11-5, 7-11,
11-4, 11-8 (39m)
Reiko Peter (SUI) bt [Q] Jack Jago (ENG) 11-3, 11-7, 11-5
(36m)
[Q] Johan Bouquet (FRA) bt Adrian Dudzicki (CAN) 12-10,
6-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9 (67m)
[2] Shaun le Roux (RSA) bt Jerome Dadot (FRA) 11-6, 11-5,
11-7 (29m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 12-10, 11-4,
11-4 (55m)
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt [Q] Antoine-Camille Petrucci
(FRA) 10-12, 11-1, 11-6, 5-11, 11-4 (60m)
Reiko Peter (SUI) bt [4] Joan Lezaud (FRA) 12-10, 12-10,
11-8 (50m)
[2] Shaun le Roux (RSA) bt [Q] Johan Bouquet (FRA) 11-7,
6-11, 11-7, 11-2 (49m)
Semi-finals:
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt [1] Julien Balbo (FRA) 11-8,
12-10, 7-2 ret.
[2] Shaun le Roux (RSA) bt Reiko Peter (SUI) 11-8, 11-5,
11-7 (39m)
Final:
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt [2] Shaun le Roux (RSA) 11-8,
5-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7 (81m)
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