New
Zealand's Campbell Grayson survived a 94-minute battle in the
final of the Prairie AutoHaus Saskatoon Boast Open in Canada to
upset top-seeded Australian Zac Alexander and win the PSA
World Tour Challenger 10 squash event in its 11th successive year at
the Saskatoon YMCA in Saskatoon.
Both
players come through marathon encounters en-route to the climax -
Alexander a 94-minute semi-final and New Zealand national champion
Grayson a quarter-final which was two minutes longer.
"The
crowd was ecstatic to witness a fantastic five-game final match,"
commented event promoter Brad Birnie. "Grayson put on a
demonstration of determination and will by earning the victory over
defending-champion Alexander in five games.
"Obviously gassed after his last two extremely long matches, Grayson
took plenty of time between rallies, retrieved many winners from
Alexander and played immaculate length and numerous precise short shots
at the right moments."
The
11-5, 7-11, 12-10, 3-11, 11-9 victory marks the 26-year-old from
Auckland's fifth career Tour title.
Saskatoon Open Sets Trans-Tasman Test
Top
seeds Zac Alexander and Campbell Grayson will put
trans-Tasman rivalry to the test in Canada when they meet in the final
of the Prairie AutoHaus Saskatoon Boast Open, the PSA World
Tour Challenger 10 squash event in its 11th successive year at the
Saskatoon YMCA in Saskatoon.
Australian Alexander, the defending champion, twice stemmed comebacks by
unseeded Shaun le Roux before beating the South African 11-8,
6-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8 in 94 minutes. It was Le Roux's second five-game
marathon in 24 hours after taking 113 minutes to overcome Mexican
qualifier Eric Galvez in the quarter-finals.
"After
the marathon match the previous night, Le Roux showed no sign of fatigue
as he stretched Alexander to five for the first time this tournament,"
commented event promoter Brad Birnie.
The
win takes 23-year-old Alexander into the 17th PSA Tour final of his
career - but his first this year.
Second-seeded New Zealander Grayson took 71 minutes to overcome fourth
seed Steven Finitsis 11-8, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9 and deny Alexander a
battle against a fellow countryman.
The
26-year-old Kiwi national champion is celebrating his eighth Tour final
and second this year.
It
will be Grayson's fifth Tour clash with Alexander, the Aucklander
boasting a 3/1 head to head advantage.
More
Marathons In Saskatoon
Marathon battles continued to be the order of the day in Saskatoon,
Canada, where South African Shaun le Roux survived a 113-minute
encounter in the Prairie AutoHaus Saskatoon Boast Open to become
the only unseeded player to make the semi-finals of the PSA World
Tour Challenger 10 squash event in its 11th successive year at the
Saskatoon YMCA.
The
Cape Town-born 26-year-old's opponent was former champion Eric Galvez,
a Mexican qualifier who had reached the quarter-finals after a bruising
126-minute upset over third-seeded Australian Rex Hedrick.
But
this time Le Roux had the edge - the world No81 recovering from a game
down to beat Galvez 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 7-11, 12-10.
The
South African now meets top seed Zac Alexander for a place in the
final. Australian Alexander, the defending champion ranked 44 in the
world, beat English qualifier Ben Coleman 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6
in 55 minutes.
Two
hour-long-plus clashes resolved the line-up for the other semi-final.
Fourth-seeded Australian Steven Finitsis needed 78 minutes to
overcome England's Jaymie Haycocks 8-11, 11-2, 14-12, 11-8 -
while it took New Zealand's No2 seed Campbell Grayson more than
an hour and a half to conquer Argentina's Gonzalo Miranda 10-12,
11-9, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8 in 96 minutes.
Galvez
Boasts Saskatoon Marathon Upset
Mexican qualifier Eric Galvez survived one of the longest matches
of his career in the Prairie AutoHaus Saskatoon Boast Open in
Canada when he upset third-seeded Australian Rex Hedrick to
secure a place in the quarter-finals of the PSA World Tour Challenger
10 squash event in its 11th successive year at the Saskatoon YMCA
in Saskatoon.
A
former Pan American champion and world No33, Galvez has slipped down the
rankings over the past five years and currently languishes just outside
the top 100. But the 29-year-old from Puebla has clearly rediscovered
his former touch and, after coming through two rounds of qualifying,
battled for 126 minutes to see off Hedrick, the 24-year-old world No69
from Melbourne, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 3-11, 11-5.
"This
match had it all," said tournament organiser Brad Birnie. "Long,
punishing rallies, four injury time-outs, bleeding, neither player
making many mistakes. Really a titanic battle between two evenly matched
players. Galvez gathered himself several times through injury breaks to
upset the third seed."
Now
leading Mexican interest single-handedly, Galvez will next face South
African Shaun le Roux, who also defeated an Australian, qualifier
Scott Arnold, 11-3, 11-7, 11-5.
And
the Mexican is joined by a second qualifier who is now also bidding for
a place in the last four. England's Ben Coleman - the
lowest-ranked qualifier in the field - beat Pakistan's 18-year-old
Danish Atlas Khan 13-11, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-4 in 94 minutes.
"In
the first major upset of the evening, a marathon of lets, long rallies,
conduct warnings and an injury time-out when Khan hit himself in the
face with a front court drive," explained Birnie. "Coleman won out as
Khan seemed to be injured in the fifth, although he played on gamely."
The
top two seeds both put out Canadians to stake their claim on
quarter-final berths. Australian favourite Zac Alexander beat
wildcard Matthew Serediak 11-4, 11-4, 11-9, while second-seeded
New Zealander Campbell Grayson ousted Calgary's Andrew Schnell
11-2, 11-3, 11-7.