Home-town boy Shaun Le Roux triumphed in the final of the 2014 Laser
Western Provence PSA Challenger 10 tournament in Cape Town, beating
number one seed Mohd Ali Anwar Reda of Egypt 3-2 to claim the honours.
In front of a capacity crowd, Le Roux was made to work hard for his
title, with Reda, the world No.41, pushing the home favourite all the
way in a thrilling 84-minute back and forth battle which the local
favourite eventually sealed 10-12, 13-11, 7-11, 11-2, 11-6 .
The victory sees Le Roux claim his third PSA World Tour title so far in
2014, with the Cape-town born star, who is now based in the UK, having
already lifted the Northumbria Open and the IG Open De Paris.
“The
last two weeks have been really special for me to play in front of my
home crowds, I don’t often get to play here and in front of my family so
to see the huge crowds turn out and create the atmosphere they have for
all the players has been really incredible,”
said Le Roux.
“Reda
and I played just over a year ago and he won 11-8 in the 5th so it was
hard not to think about that but I felt I was able to give it one last
push mentally towards the end and that made the difference today.
“A
special thank you to Paul and WP Squash for putting the event on and a
massive thank you to Phil and The Laser Group for supporting the
tournament."
While Le Roux claimed the title in Cape Town, it was another local, Gary
Wheadon, who captured the imagination of the fans with a dramatic and
unexpected run to the semi-finals where he eventually fell to Le Roux.
Having lost in the event’s qualifying stages, Wheadon found himself back
in the tournament as a Lucky Loser and he made the most of his
opportunity, dispatching number six seed Alex Ingham and number three
seed Tayya Aslam on his way to the semi-finals.
“Having stopped playing on tour a few years ago, I relish the chance to
give the current players a bit of a run, even more so on my own
doorstep,”
said Wheadon.