Coppinger
Slays Knight In Hibiscus Gardens
South African
Stephen Coppinger justified his top billing in the Hibiscus Gardens
Open when he downed New Zealand's Martin Knight in today's final of
the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Hibiscus Gardens
Squash Centre in Brisbane, Australia.
The world
number 39 from Cape Town won a high quality final 11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8 to
claim the seventh Tour title of his career and his second of the year.
Coppinger and
Knight are separated by only 13 places on the world rankings and they were
evenly matched throughout the opening two games.
However, the
Kiwi began to show signs of fatigue at the start of the third and Coppinger took
full advantage.
The
26-year-old top seed stepped up his attack at the start of both the third and
fourth games, seizing on his opponent's mistakes and racing away to big leads.
Knight fought
hard but he was unable to make an impression and the South African added the
Brisbane title to the Finnish Open he won in February.
"It was a
really, really tough match so I was delighted to get through," said Coppinger.
"I really had
to regroup after the second and force myself to make the pace, to get onto the T
and to push him around the court rather than the other way round."
Coppinger said
he realised Knight, who had a tough semi-final win on Saturday, was tiring after
the second game.
"We both put a
massive effort into the second game - I sensed he was tiring towards the end of
that game. It's easy when you are winning the game to stay pumped up but after
the rest between games, I think it took its toll."
Knight
conceded he had lost concentration in the third game after battling hard to get
the final back on terms.
"I hung back
and was trying to control the ball and play a more controlled, accurate pace,
but he was a bit more frantic and he was able to cut the ball off and do a bit
with it," said the Wellington-born 27-year-old.
"I got back a
little bit in the fourth, but my legs gave way - I was tired."
Top Seeds To
Contest Brisbane Final
Top-seeded
South African Stephen Coppinger will take on New Zealand's No2 seed
Martin Knight in the final of the Hibiscus Gardens Open in Brisbane
after contrasting semi-final wins in the PSA World Tour Challenger 15
squash event at Hibiscus Gardens Squash Centre in Upper Mount Gravatt.
Coppinger
looked in great touch as he saw off Malaysian Kamran Khan 11-5, 11-3,
11-5 while Knight had to fight all the way before outlasting veteran South
Australian Mike Corren 8-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-5 to reach his seventh Tour
final.
Corren, who
won the ACT Open in Canberra last week, was left ruing his lost
opportunities when he had a number of chances to go 2/0 up.
"I had some
game balls in the second game but he saved them, then won the game himself -
that was the difference," Corren said.
"I've got no
excuses - he played well and stuck to his game, while I got stuck playing at one
pace and couldn't get forward.
"I think if I
could have got that second game and gone two-love up it would have been a
different result.
"But he stayed
on one level and my game dipped in the third and fourth games."
Earlier,
Coppinger had taken advantage of some weariness from the Malaysian to close out
the first semi-final.
Khan won a
marathon quarter-final against Melbourne's Rex Hedrick on Friday night
and struggled to recover in time for his semi-final.
Coppinger, the
world number 39 from Cape Town who is now celebrating his 12th Tour final
appearance, has been in superb form over the last 12 months and won the
Finnish Open in February.
He and Knight
have played once before, at the Hong Kong Open in 2009, the South African
winning in four games.
Khan Battles
To Brisbane Semis
Malaysia's
Kamran Khan recovered from two games down to beat local hope Rex Hedrick
in the Hibiscus Gardens Open to reach the semi-finals of the PSA World
Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Hibiscus Gardens Squash Centre in
Upper Mount Gravatt, near Brisbane, in Australia.
Khan, the
21-year-old third seed, had to dig deep to overcome 22-year-old Hedrick, from
Melbourne, 5-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 in 78 minutes.
"Kamran was
down two sets to love, but his tenacious opponent Rex Hedrick ran out of
steam and couldn't keep the intensity up that he showed in the first two games,"
explained tournament organiser Jeffrey Wollstein.
Khan, ranked
82 in the world, will now face world No39 Stephen Coppinger, the top seed
from South Africa who despatched England's Chris Truswell 11-3, 11-7,
11-8.
There will be
Australian interest in the other semi-final where Mike Corren takes on
New Zealander Martin Knight.
Corren, the
third seed from South Australia who won his sixth successive PSA Tour
title at the ACT Open in Canberra last week, took only 24 minutes to
quash Canadian Fred Reid 11-8, 11-6, 11-9.
Second seed
Knight ended Leo Au's brave run, beating the Hong Kong qualifier 12-10,
11-4, 11-7.
Au continues winning ways in Brisbane
Hong Kong qualifier Leo Au continued his winning run when he upset
local favourite Nathan Stevenson in the first round of the Hibiscus
Gardens Open squash tournament t in Brisbane on Thursday.
Au, who won through two rounds of qualifying to make the main draw,
came back from losing the first game to win 7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-4
and move into a quarter-final clash against second seeded New
Zealander Martin Knight.
Knight had to fight hard to see off Dutch qualifier Sebastian
Weenink 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6,
South Africa’s top seed, Stephen Coppinger, cruised into the final
eight with an 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 win over Malaysian Choong Kam Hing,
however, the third ranked Kamran Khan was pushed all the way by
local qualifier Brad Freeme, the Malaysian eventually winning 8-11,
14-12, 11-8, 11-7.
Meanwhile, South Australian veteran Mike Corren, who last week won
his 33rd PSA title, ended the run of fellow Australian Jamie
McErvale 11-5, 11-5, 11-9.
Other winners were Melbourne’s Rex Hedrick, an 11-5, 11-3, 11-3
winner over Japan’s Ben Takamizawa Harris, Chris Truswell, who beat
Kiwi Alex Grayson 11-5, 16-14, 11-5 and Canada’s Fred Reid, who
upset fellow countryman Tyler Hamilton 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10.
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