Steve Finitsis (Aus)
11/8, 11/2, 11/4 (32 mins)
[Q] Nathan Lake (Eng)
Steve Finitsis 12/10, 11/4, 11/7
(69 mins) Adrian Grant
Jan Koukal (Cze)
12/10, 11/6, 11/9 (50 mins) [2] Adrian Grant (Eng)
Grant Claims
Double AR Rotterdam Open Title
England’s
Adrian Grant securedthe 19th PSA World Tour title of his
career on Sunday by winning the Double AR Rotterdam Open Squash 2013
in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
The 32-year old London based player, ranked 24 on the PSA World Ranking,
beat surprising finalist Mathieu Castagnet in a brutal and
extremely long two-hour plus final of the new PSA Challenger 15
championship in the Netherlands,which went right down to
the wirein front of a capacity-crowd at the centercourt of
Victoria Squash, which also hosted the combined Men’s & Women’s
World Squash Championships in 2011.
Castagnet took the first with ease, but the Englishmen levelled after
around 30 minutes of play. Grant looked set to go 2-1 up at 10-6 in the
third, but the French international fought back and unexpectedly took
the lead. The world number 28 from Aix-en-Provence continued his good
form in the fourth to reach match ball at 10-7, but this time it was
Grant’s turn to come back and sneak the game on a tiebreak.
The fifth and final game saw yet another couple of turnarounds with
Castagnet fighting back from 0-7 down to 8-8, before Grant regrouped to
reach match ball at 10-8. Yet again Castagnet fought back, but Grant
finally clinched the title on his fourth match point after 132 minutes
of intense and high-quality squash: 6/11, 11/8, 11/13, 15/13, 13/11.
“It’s great to win the title here, in particular after such an intense
match. At the end it was a lottery and I am really glad that I managed
to sneak the win”, said the newly crowned champion. “I want to thank
Neeraj and Tommy for putting up this event, and off course Double AR
(which is also my personal sponsor) and the city of Rotterdam for making
it happen.”
Tournament promoter Neeraj Aggarwal added: “It was a fantastic
and fitting end to this championship. The athleticism and determination
Adrian and Mathieu displayed, showed yet again that squash deserves to
be an Olympic sport. The effort they put in was simply incredible. From
an event perspective I can’t be more happier either with the great
matches and crowds we have had all week.”
Castagnet Stuns Anjema At
Double AR Rotterdam Open
Mathieu
Castagnet
caused a stunning upset at the Double AR Rotterdam Open Squash 2013
by ousting top seed and home crowd favourite Laurens Jan Anjema
in the semi finals of the new PSA Challenger 15 championship in
the Netherlands.
Entering the match with a 0-6 head-to-head record, things weren’t
looking good for the world number 31 when he quickly went down 5-1 in
the first game. The 26-year old Aix-en-Provence settled soon
after though and managed to contain his higher ranked opponent by
slowing down the pace and mixing it beautifully with bursts of
high-paced attacking squash. As a result Castagnet made Anjema do a lot
of work, forcing openings to put the ball away, which he took full
advantage off throughout the 48-minute match: 11/8, 11/8, 11/3.
In Sunday’s Double AR Rotterdam Open final Castagnet will face Adrian
Grant, after the Englishmen recovered from one game down to beat
Finland’s Olli Tuominen, the reigning European champion, in a
62-minute encounter. The win of the third-game tiebreak proved crucial
as the global ambassador of title sponsor Double AR never looked
back after taking the important lead: 7/11, 11/5, 12/10, 11/3.
Top Seeds To Contest
Double AR Rotterdam Open Semi’s
The
top four seeds moved into the semi finals of the Double AR Rotterdam
Open Squash 2013 on Friday, but it wasn’t plain sailing for all of
them in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
Laurens Jan Anjema,
Adrian Grant and Olli Tuominen all came through
unscratched in their quarter finals. Top seeded Anjema, the home
favourite, won the first and third game with ease, but had to fight back
from 9-6 down in the second to overcome Germany’s Raphael Kandra
in straight games: 11/3, 11/9, 11/6.
Grant, the global ambassador of title sponsor Double AR,
displayed great skill and athleticism in his match against Steve
Finitsis. Grant started off slowly, but managed to claw his way back
in time to edge the first game against his hard-hitting Australian
opponent. From there the Englishmen looked at ease on the show court of
Victoria, dominating the next two games to secure a 3-0 win against a
dangerous opponent: 12/10, 11/4, 11/7.
Tuominen had an easier time against Jens Schoor. The reigning
European champion took control from the outset and simply outplayed his
German opponent who couldn’t find an answer to the fast and explosive
play of the Finnish number one: 11/4, 11/7, 11,4.
In the last match of the evening Castagnet proved too strong for
compatriot Lucas Serme in a highly competitive and long French
encounter. Serme took the first after nearly half an hour, but this
seemed to take it’s toll on the youngster, who kept working hard but
lacked the explosively of the early stages of the match to really
trouble his countrymen in the next three games. The final score line:
10/12, 11/3, 11/7, 11/7.
Favourites cruise through at
Double AR Rotterdam Open
Tournament favourites Laurens Jan Anjema, Adrian Grant,
Olli Tuominen and Mathieu Castagnet all made it safely
through to the quarter finals of the Double AR Rotterdam Open Squash
2013 in the Netherlands.
Top seeded Anjema took 42 minutes to see-off in-form qualifier Declan
James. The 30-year old top seed from The Hague dominated play from
start to finish and never looked in danger of losing in front of a
near-capacity audience on the show court of the renowned Victoria
sporting club.
Grant, Tuominen and Castagnet also came through without dropping a game,
although all of them had to work very hard for it. Grant survived three
game-balls in the opening game against Czech number one Jan Koukal,
before taking control of the match. European champion Tuominen needed
two narrow tie-break wins to break the spirit of South Africa’s
Clinton Leeuw, whilst Castagnet just got the better of Kristian
Frost Olesen (Denmark) in a 83-minute match to finish of the first
round main draw action.
Other first round winners at the new PSA Challenger 15
championship in the Dutch city of Rotterdam are Raphael Kandra
(3-0 vs. Geoffrey Demont), Lucas Serme (3-0 vs. wildcard
Sebastiaan Weenink), Steve Finitsis (3-0 vs. Nathan
Lake) and Jens Schoor (3-0 vs. Aqeel Rehman).
Qualifying Complete At Double AR
Rotterdam Open
Clinton Leeuw,
Geoffrey Demont, Nathan Lake and Declan James
claimed the four available (qualifier) spots in the main draw of the
Double AR Rotterdam Open Squash 2013, a new PSA Challenger 15
championship in the Netherlands.
South
Africa’s Leeuw took four games to see-off Johan Bouquet from
France, Demont (Fra) outlasted England’s Lewis Walters in a
70-minute tussle, young Englishmen Lake fought back from two games down
against compatriot Adam Auckland and in-form James (also from
England) just got the better of Kuwaiti Ammar Altimimi in a
fifth-game tiebreak in the final match of the evening.
Tournament favorites Laurens Jan Anjema, Adrian Grant,
Olli Tuominen and Mathieu Castagnet kick-off their Double AR
Rotterdam Open campaign on Thursday. Dutch champion Anjema faces
qualifier James in his opening match, while Grant, the global ambassador
of title sponsor Double AR, starts against Czech number one
Jan Koukal. Finnish starlet Tuominen, the reigning European
champion, plays Leeuw who came through qualifying, whilst Castagnet
(from France) takes on Denmark’s Kristian Frost Olesen.
Other
first round matches are Raphael Kandra vs. Demont, Aqeel
Rehman vs. Jens Schoor, Lucas Serme vs. Sebastiaan
Weenink and Steve Finitsis vs. Lake.
Rotterdam To Host New PSA Tour Event
Almost
two years after the combined World Championship for men and women
took place in Rotterdam, the Dutch capital of sports will play
host again to another professional squash championship on the PSA
World Tour calendar.
Italy's fast-growing stringing manufacturer Double AR has been
confirmed as the primary sponsor for the Double AR Rotterdam Open
Squash 2013, which will take place from 27 August - 1 September at
the renowned squash club Victoria in the Dutch city of Rotterdam,
which hosted the early rounds of the highly successful world
championship at the end of 2011.
The
Double AR Rotterdam Open Squash 2013 offers a total prize fund of US
$15,000 and is registered as a PSA Challenger 15 championship. As
a result, the new event has attracted a stellar line-up led by former
world top 10 players Laurens Jan Anjema, the Dutch No1, and
England's Adrian Grant.
Hans
Zoethoutmaar,
deputy director of Rotterdam Topsport, welcomed the return of
professional squash to Rotterdam: "The 2011 World Open was one of the
sporting highlights in our city over the past ten years and we are
delighted to be able to stage another world class squash event in
Rotterdam. We truly hope that we can turn the Double AR Rotterdam Open
into an annual event and look forward to seeing many familiar faces in
action again on the show court of Victoria."
Executive director Brenno Zuccarello from Double AR added: "The
sponsorship of the Double AR Rotterdam Open offers us the opportunity to
increase our brand awareness in squash, but also provides our younger
Double AR players with an opportunity to gain valuable world ranking
points on the PSA World Tour. We were looking to sponsor a PSA event for
quite some time and found the perfect partner in Rotterdam, given its
central location in Europe and its tremendous track-record of hosting
world class squash events."
