Home Hero
Rodriguez Wins Colombian Open Crown
Spurred on by
his jubilant home club crowd, local hero Miguel Angel Rodriguez upset
top-seeded Finn Olli Tuominen in the final of the Colombian Open
to win the $30,000 PSA World Tour squash title at Club El Nogal in
the capital Bogota.
"The final was
certainly the best match of the tournament, with two vibrant games in the
beginning that perfectly defined what was going to be Miguel Rodriguez's second
victory in his third final of the Colombian Squash Open," said tournament
spokesman Juan Carlos Santacruz.
Tuominen, the
world No25 from Helsinki, forced his opponent to all corners of the court to win
the opening game. But Rodriguez showed more patience in the second and, at
nine-all, played two cross-court winners to tie the match.
"Without
doubt, this game was a turning point in the match," said Santacruz.
Maintaining
his pressure and forcing Tuominen to make errors, Rodriguez rook the third game
in just eight minutes as the crowd sensed a possible local triumph.
At 3-2 up in
the fourth, Tuominen became increasingly frustrated and committed eight unforced
errors in a row to give the 24-year-old world No32 from Bogota - Colombia's
highest-ranked player of all-time - the advantage.
The Finn
refocused, but it was too late as Rodriguez finally converted his third match
ball to celebrate a popular 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 triumph after 54 minutes.
The victory
marked the Colombian's second title success in the event since 2008.
Salazar Takes
Out Alarcon In Colombian Open Upset
Sixth-seeded
Mexican Arturo Salazar upset fourth seed Rafael F Alarcon in a
marathon quarter-final match in the 2010 Colombian Open to claim an
unexpected place in the last four of the $30,000 PSA World Tour squash
event at Club El Nogal in the capital Bogota.
In his second
win over the higher-ranked Brazilian this year, 22-year-old Salazar came back
from a game down to beat the world No36 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 in 76 minutes.
Salazar moves
on to face top seed Olli Tuominen in his second meeting this year with
the Finn. Tuominen, ranked 25 in the world, bounced out Czech number one Jan
Koukal 11-9, 11-5, 11-6.
Twin brother
Cesar Salazar will not be joining Arturo in the semi-final line-up. The
No8 seed went down 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 to second-seeded Canadian Shahier Razik.
The
32-year-old from Toronto will now face local hero Miguel Angel Rodriguez,
the third seed from Bogota who won the title two years ago.
The
24-year-old Colombian reached the semi-finals for the third year in a row when
he defeated Italy's fifth seed Stephane Galifi 11-6, 11-8, 11-3.
Home Hero
Miguel Makes Colombian Open Quarters
Top-ranked
Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez made swift work of reaching the
quarter-finals of the 2010 Colombian Open by defeating his opponent in
just 24 minutes in the opening round of the $30,000 PSA World Tour squash
event at Club El Nogal in the country's capital Bogota.
Third seed
Rodriguez, who celebrated his maiden Tour title at the event in 2008, delighted
his loyal fans by despatching unseeded Canadian Robin Clarke 11-5, 11-9,
11-7. The 24-year-old from Bogota will now face fifth seed Stephane Galifi
in a bid to make the semi-finals on his home club's courts for the third year in
a row.
Italian Galifi
recovered from a game down to beat unseeded American Christopher Gordon
6-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5.
Canada's
second seed Shahier Razik was taken the full distance by Fabien
Verseille before overcoming the French qualifier 11-8, 5-11, 1-11, 11-3,
11-5 in a 69-minute marathon.
Razik, the
32-year-old from Toronto who will lead Canada's medal bid in next month's
Commonwealth Games in Delhi, will now face eighth-seeded Mexican Cesar
Salazar - who also prevailed in a five-game battle, beating Finn Henrik
Mustonen 9-11, 13-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-5.
By contrast,
Cesar's twin brother Arturo Salazar needed just 16 minutes to claim his
place in the next round - beating Colombian wildcard Simon Martinez, aged
just 17, 11-2, 11-2, 11-4.
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