Paul Rawden (Eng) 11/8, 11/7, 12/10, 14/12
Mohamed El Tabaa (Egy)
Mohamed El Tabaa (Egy)
11/8, 11/8, 12/10 (41m) Ahmad Al-Saraj (Jor)
[Q] David Clegg (Aua)
11/8, 11/1, 11/7 (20m)
[2] Ahmad Al-Saraj (Jor)
Lobban Lifts KL Crown
Scotland's Greg Lobban claimed the second PSA World Tour
title of his career after surviving a five-game final in the NSC SRAM
Series No.2, the PSA Challenger 5 squash event at the
Bukit Jalil National Squash Centre in the Malaysian capital Kuala
Lumpur.
The
No.1 seed was taken the full distance in the quarter-finals before
overcoming unseeded Egyptian Shehab Essam Hosny in an 81-minute
marathon.
By
contrast, it took the 21-year-old from Edinburgh just 15 minutes to come
through the semi-finals - when Pakistan opponent Muhammad Shoaib
Hassan retired injured midway through the second game.
Lobban
was celebrating his sixth appearance in a PSA Tour final - while his
18-year-old opponent Ahmad Al-Saraj became the first Jordanian
ever to claim a second Tour final berth when he beat seventh-seeded
Pakistani Waqas Mehboob in the other semi.
Al-Saraj, the second seed from Amman, led 2/1 in the final as a historic
first ever Tour win by a player from Jordan looked on the cards.
But
Inverness-born Lobban, ranked 85 in the world, dug deep to claw back the
initiative, eventually beating the Jordanian teenager, ranked 44 places
below, 11-1, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9 in 70 minutes.
"Second PSA title. Delighted," tweeted Lobban later. "Now to savour this
moment and enjoy sightseeing around KL. These kinds of moments don't
happen all the time!"