RESULTS: PSA Challenger 5 City Of Kalgoorlie-Boulder PSA Int
Golden Open, Kalgoorlie, WA, Australia
Atef
Strikes Gold In Golden Open
After
surviving two rounds of qualifying, Egyptian teenager Ahmed Atef
swept through the field of the City Of Kalgoorlie-Boulder PSA Int
Golden Open in Western Australia before despatching top seed
Arthur Gaskin in today's final of the PSA Challenger 5 squash
event at the YMCA in Kalgoorlie to win his maiden PSA
World Tour title.
The
19-year-old showed his promise in the semi-finals where he knocked out
local hope Justin Beard, the No2 seed from Adelaide.
Irishman Gaskin also seemed to be in commanding form - reaching his
second successive Tour final in Australia - and the fifth of his career
- without dropping a game.
But
the 28-year-old from Dublin met his match in the final as Atef - ranked
outside the world top 200 - rallied to his career breakthrough 11-6,
4-11, 11-6, 11-6 victory in 64 minutes.
Atef
not only celebrates his first Tour title - but
becomes the ninth Egyptian to win a PSA Tour trophy this year!
1st
round:
[1] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) bt Tim Cowell (AUS) 11-6, 11-7,
11-4 Tom de Mulder (BEL) bt [Q] Tristan Eysele (ENG) 11-8,
11-6, 10-12, 9-11, 11-8 (64m)
[Q] Adam Auckland (ENG) bt Matias Tuomi (FIN) 11-8, 11-3,
11-6 (24m) Kim Are Killingberg (NOR) bt [3] Micah Franklin (BER)
11-9, 11-4, 11-3 (35m)
[Q] Nosherwan Khan (PAK) bt [4] Robert Downer (ENG) 4-11,
11-5, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 (70m)
[Q] Ahmed Atef (EGY) bt Rhys Dowling (AUS) 12-10, 11-4,
11-8 (31m) Sunil Seth (AUS) bt [WC] Brenton Scheer (AUS) 11-9, 11-8,
11-3 (21m)
[2] Justin Beard (AUS) bt Arthur Moineau (FRA) 7-11,
14-12, 11-4, 12-10 (51m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) bt Tom de Mulder (BEL) 13-11,
13-11, 11-4 (24m)
[Q] Adam Auckland (ENG) bt Kim Are Killingberg (NOR) 11-9,
11-6, 11-7 (34m)
[Q] Ahmed Atef (EGY) bt [Q] Nosherwan Khan (PAK) 6-11,
11-4, 11-4, 11-1 (35m)
[2] Justin Beard (AUS) bt Sunil Seth (AUS) 13-11, 4-11,
11-9, 12-10 (67m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) bt [Q] Adam Auckland (ENG) 11-5,
11-8, 11-4 (37m)
[Q] Ahmed Atef (EGY) bt [2] Justin Beard (AUS) 11-7, 11-6,
11-7 (41m)
Final:
[Q] Ahmed Atef (EGY) bt [1] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) 11-6,
4-11, 11-6, 11-6 (64m)