Essam Lifts Finnish Open Crown

#PSAWorldTour

Top seed Shehab Essam secured his first ever PSA World Tour title with a dramatic come-from-behind victory against Geoffrey Demont in the final of the Savcor Finnish Open, PSA M5 event.

The Egyptian dispatched Israel’s Daniel Poleshchuk in impressive style in the previous round to seal his spot in the final while a fine display from Demont saw him move past number two seed Ashley Davies in four games.

Proceedings started on an even keel with both players trading points in a match that ebbed and flowed. Demont took the opening game and, after some decisions went in his favour in game two, pulled away to open up a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead over his opponent.

It looked like Demont would wrap up the match in straight games after he surged into a 7-4 lead in the third but a gargantuan effort from Essam saw the World No.89 turn the match on its head to halve the deficit and his fightback continued into the fourth as he levelled up the fixture, setting up a climactic fifth game showdown.

Essam was in command of the tie from that point onwards and powered through to triumph in the final game, completing the win with a 14-16, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 victory to break his PSA World Tour title duck.

Result – Final: Savcor Finnish Open 2016
[1] Shehab Essam (EGY) bt [3] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) 3-2: 14-16, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5