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Petersburg
Cup,
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Gamal Battles
To St Petersburg Title
Egypt's
Mazen Gamal notched up his fourth PSA World Tour squash title success
in his fourth final after winning the inaugural Petersburg Cup, the
$3,000 Satellite event at Sport Centre "Pro" in Saint Petersburg,
Russia.
But the
24-year-old top seed from Cairo was fully stretched on his way through to the
final - and needed 94 minutes to get past Andre Haschker, the No8 seed
from Germany, in a five-game semi-final.
By contrast,
his final opponent cruised through to the climax without dropping a game. And it
was after qualifying that Charles Sharpes began his run, first upsetting
France's second seed Johan Bouquet before going on to remove Italy's
third seed Andrea Torricini in the semi-finals.
The
London-born 18-year-old, celebrating his second successive Tour final
appearance, took the opening game against the Egyptian.
But Gamal,
ranked almost 100 places higher than the English teenager, survived a close
second game before going on to record his 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-3 title-winning
victory in 63 minutes.
1st round:
[1] Mazen Gamal (EGY) bt Matias Tuomi (FIN) 11-3, 11-9, 10-12,
11-4 (48m)
[Q] Caspar Grauball Nielsen (DEN) bt [5] David Vidal (ESP) 2-11,
8-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-1 (63m)
[Q] Nathan Lake (ENG) bt [4] Alexei Severinov (RUS) 11-5, 11-3,
11-6 (28m)
[8] Andre Haschker (GER) bt [Q] Chris Fuller (ENG) 11-8, 11-7,
11-6 (60m)
[7] Ruslan Sorochinskiy (UKR) bt Aleksander Shilov (RUS) 11-6,
11-9, 11-4 (38m)
[3] Andrea Torricini (ITA) bt Martin Mosnik (SLO) 13-11, 7-11,
11-2, 11-6 (44m)
Kostiantyn Rybalchenko (UKR) bt [6] Luca Mastrostefano (ITA)
10-12, 6-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-6 (40m)
[Q] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt [2] Johan Bouquet (FRA) 11-6, 11-4,
11-6 (45m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Mazen Gamal (EGY) bt [Q] Caspar Grauball Nielsen (DEN) 11-6,
7-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7 (72m)
[8] Andre Haschker (GER) bt [Q] Nathan Lake (ENG) 11-7, 11-6, 11-3
(59m)
[3] Andrea Torricini (ITA) bt [7] Ruslan Sorochinskiy (UKR) 11-8,
13-11, 11-6 (48m)
[Q] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt Kostiantyn Rybalchenko (UKR) 11-1,
11-3, 11-4 (22m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Mazen Gamal (EGY) bt [8] Andre Haschker (GER) 11-6, 7-11,
11-8, 4-11, 11-8 (94m)
[Q] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt [3] Andrea Torricini (ITA) 11-6,
11-5, 11-5 (27m)
Final:
[1] Mazen Gamal (EGY) bt [Q] Charles Sharpes (ENG) 9-11, 12-10,
11-9, 11-3 (63m)
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