24/12/2011
SYNOT TIP OPEN 2011
Home Title Completes Koukal's Busy Year
Synot Tip Open 2011
20-23 Dec, Prague, $5k |
Round One
21 Dec |
Quarters
22 Dec |
Semis
22 Dec |
Final
23 Dec |
[1] Jan Koukal (Cze)
11/8, 11/3, 11/6 (28m)
Roman Svec (Cze) |
Jan Koukal
11/8, 11/4, 11/8 (30m)
Fabien Verseille |
Jan Koukal
11/8, 11/8, 11/7 (43m)Joan Lezaud |
Jan Koukal
11/7, 12/10, 13/11 (47m)
Kashif Shuja |
Fabien Verseille (Fra)
12/10, 9/11, 11/8, 6/11, 11/8 (64m)
[Q] Chris Ferguson (Sco) |
Steve London (Eng)
6/11, 16/14, 7/11, 11/7, 11/6 (10m)
[Q] Frank Hartkoren (Ned) |
Steve London
9/11, 12/10, 11/4, 11/7 (46m)
Joan Lezaud |
[Q] Mohamed El Sherif (Egy)
11/8, 11/8, 7/11, 9/11, 9/11 (62m)
[4] Joan Lezaud (Fra) |
[3] Kashif Shuja (Nzl)
11/5, 4/11, 11/3, 11/9 (35m)
Robert Downer |
Kashif Shuja
11/8, 11/9, 11/4 (27m)
Petr Martin |
Kashif Shuja
11/8, 13/11, 7/11, 9/11, 11/3 (70m)
Lucas Serme |
Petr Martin (Cze)
11/7, 7/11, 11/3, 11/5 (40m)
Adrian Dudzicki (Can) |
Lucas Serme (Fra)
11/8, 11/8, 6/11, 11/7 (66m)
Andre Haschker (Ger) |
Lucas Serme
11/7, 11/2, 11/8 (36m)
Ondrej Ertl |
Ondrej Ertl (Cze)
12/10, 21/19, 5/6 rtd (78m)
[2] Bradley Hindle (Mlt) |
Home
Title Completes Koukal's Busy Year
Czech
squash star Jan Koukal has completed an historic year on the
PSA World Tour in the best possible style - by winning the inaugural
SYNOT TIP Open in his home city of Prague.
It was
after making squash history by competing in his 25th PSA Tour event of
the year that the 28-year-old world No52 then reached the climax of the
PSA Challenger 5 event at the Squash Club Praha to clock
up his tenth final appearance of 2011.
Top
seed Koukal battled for 47 minutes against third seed Kashif Shuja
before clinching an 11-7, 12-10, 13-11 victory over the New Zealander to
record the 19th Tour title triumph of his career.
"I won
in three - but it was a very close and tough match," said the jubilant
Koukal at the end of his remarkable Tour journey. "Kashif played very
well, but I managed to stay cool at the crucial points and play them a
little better!"
Koukal
began his remarkable 2011 campaign in January in New York at the JP
Morgan Tournament of Champions, the first PSA World Series
event of the year. He went on to play in five further Tour events in the
USA over the next two months before moving on to Canada, Hong Kong,
Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Netherlands, Kuwait and
Slovakia before returning home to round off the year in the city of his
birth.
"I'm
so happy to end this incredible and long year with a win, especially
here in Prague at home in front of my friends and family.
"I
don't think I ever looked so forward to Christmas as this year - as it
means a rest for me!"
Koukal
Makes It Ten In 2011
Czech
squash star Jan Koukal celebrated the return to his home city of
Prague at the end of a historic year on the PSA World Tour
by notching up his tenth final appearance of 2011 at the SYNOT TIP
Open.
The
28-year-old world No52 is making squash history this week by competing
in his 25th PSA Tour event of the year.
But
his 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 victory over France's fourth seed Joan Lezaud
in the semi-finals of the PSA Challenger 5 SYNOT TIP Open at the
Squash Club Praha takes Koukal into the 33rd Tour final of his
career - and the tenth of the year, which also included final
appearances in USA, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Canada and Slovakia.
Koukal, the top seed, will face third-seeded New Zealander Kashif
Shuja, the world No95 from Auckland who resisted a spirited
fightback from Lucas Serme to beat the unseeded Frenchman 11-8,
13-11, 7-11, 9-11, 11-3 in 70 minutes in the other semi.
Shuja,
aged 32, is celebrating his 20th Tour final appearance.
Despite both players having a world ranking history stretching back to
the beginning of the last decade, the Prague final will mark Koukal and
Shuja's first ever meeting.
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