Australia’s Steven Finitsis felled the top two seeds in the Imet Open in Slovakia to win the PSA World Tour Challenger 5 event in its fourth year at Imet Squash in Bratislava.
The 28-year-old Queenslander arrived in Bratislava fresh from winning last week’s Illes Balears Open in Mallorca – and romped through to the semi-finals without dropping a game.
Seeded three, Finitsis downed New Zealander Kashif Shuja, the No2 seed, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6, to earn a place in his fourth Tour final of the year.
Top seed Jan Koukal, the Imet Open champion in 2008 and 2009, was taken the full distance in the other semi before finally overcoming unseeded Egyptian Mohd Essam El Sherif 4-11, 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10 to reach the final for the third time.
But it was not to be third time lucky for the Czech number one as Finitsis maintained his straight games run in the Slovakian capital to beat Koukal 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 in 35 minutes.
The triumph marks the tenth PSA Tour title of Finitsis’s career – and puts the Amsterdam-based Australian in fourth place in his country’s list of current Tour title winners, behind Mike Corren (37), Cameron Pilley (13) and Zac Alexander (10).
Picture shows the 2011 Imet Open champion being interviwed by Slovakian TV
Final:
[3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt [1] Jan Koukal (CZE) 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 (35m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt Mohd Essam El Sherif (EGY) 4-11, 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10
[3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt [2] Kashif Shuja (NZL) 11-6, 11-6, 11-6
Quarter-finals:
[1] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [6] Adrian Dudzicki (CAN) 11-8, 11-5, 11-9 (30m)
Mohd Essam El Sherif (EGY) bt [4] Rasmus Nielsen (DEN) 13-11, 7-11, 11-4, 2-11, 11-6 (86m)
[3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt Andre Haschker (GER) 11-3, 11-6, 13-11 (53m)
[2] Kashif Shuja (NZL) bt [5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 4-11, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10 (43m)
2nd round:
[1] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt Cedric Kuchen (SUI) 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 (23m)
[6] Adrian Dudzicki (CAN) bt Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) 3-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 (45m)
Mohd Essam El Sherif (EGY) bt Petr Martin (CZE) 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 (59m)
[4] Rasmus Nielsen (DEN) bt [Q] Alexandre Benassi (BEL) 11-4, 11-3, 17-15 (30m)
[3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt Robert Downer (ENG) 11-8, 11-4, 11-5 (42m)
Andre Haschker (GER) bt [7] Alex Phillips (ENG) 11-6, 12-10, 11-3 (37m)
[5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) bt Roman Svec (CZE) 11-6, 11-5, 11-1 (28m)
[2] Kashif Shuja (NZL) bt Jonas Daehler (SUI) 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 (24m)
1st round:
[1] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt Lukas Burkhart (SUI) 11-8, 11-4, 11-3 (22m)
Cedric Kuchen (SUI) bt Neeraj Aggarwal (AUS) 11-8, 12-10, 11-6 (36m)
Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) bt [Q] Marek Manik (SVK) 10-12, 11-2, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5 (60m)
[6] Adrian Dudzicki (CAN) bt Patrick Miescher (SUI) 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 (43m)
Mohd Essam El Sherif (EGY) bt [8] Reiko Peter (SUI) 11-4, 11-7, 11-5 (34m)
Petr Martin (CZE) bt [Q] Zbynek Standera (CZE) 11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 11-3 (42m)
[Q] Alexandre Benassi (BEL) bt Wojciech Nowisz (POL) 11-3, 13-11, 11-5 (33m)
[4] Rasmus Nielsen (DEN) bt Antoine-Camille Petrucci (FRA) 10-12, 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 (43m)
[3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt David Kubicek (SVK) 11-1, 11-5, 11-1 (20m)
Robert Downer (ENG) bt [Q] Reuben Phillips (ENG) 11-8, 11-7, 15-13 (45m)
Andre Haschker (GER) bt [Q] Miroslav Celler (SVK) 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 (27m)
[7] Alex Phillips (ENG) bt [Q] Karamatullah Khan (PAK) 4-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-9 (54m)
[5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) bt Jonathan Geekie (SCO) 11-3, 11-4, 11-9 (26m)
Roman Svec (CZE) bt Tomas Toth (SVK) 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (27m)
Jonas Daehler (SUI) bt [Q] Martin Svec (CZE) 12-10, 9-11, 11-7, 11-2 (45m)
[2] Kashif Shuja (NZL) bt [Q] David Haley (WAL) 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (27m)
Qualifying finals:
Miroslav Celler (SVK) bt Dusan Lorincik (SVK) 7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9
Reuben Phillips (ENG) bt Peter Kviecinsky (SVK) 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8
Marek Manik (SVK) bt Marcus Greslehner (AUT) 12-14, 11-6, 11-5, 13-11
Karamatullah Khan (PAK) bt Andrej Schmidtmayer (SVK) 11-8, 12-10, 12-10
Martin Svec (CZE) bt David Kubicek (SVK) 11-3, 11-8, 11-4
