PAC Open de Squash: Bushma Claims Maiden Tour Title

A week on from losing in the final in Resistencia, Ukraine’a Alina Bushma claimed her maiden Tour title, winning the PAC Open de Squash.

The Ukrainian came so close to winning for the first time on Tour last week, but lost out to Colombia’s Lucia Bautista in a five-game final in Argentina. She was able to go one better this week, to become the Tour’s newest winner.

Bushma came into the PAC Open de Squash in Rio de Janeiro as the tournament’s No.3 seed, and started her week with a four-game victory over Egypt’s Ingy Hammouda, going the distance in the fourth game to get over the line are just under an hour.

In the quarter finals, the Ukrainian recovered after losing the second game 18-16 to win in four against Scotland’s Ellie Jones. She then won in straight games against Egypt’s Sohaila Ismail in the last four. Both the second and third games went to a tie-break, but Bushma was able to win both 13-11 to advance to the final.

Bushma came up against Colombia’s Lucia Bautista in the final for the second week in succession. This time, she was able to get the job done. The first two games both went her way with an 11-9 scoreline, and although the Colombian fought back to win the third, Bushma powered on in the fourth game, to win a lengthy 72-minute clash, and to secure her maiden Tour title.

Results: Latina Tour de las Americas – PAC Open de Squash
Final
[3] Alina Bushma (UKR) bt Lucia Bautista (COL) 3-1: 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6 (72m)

Semi-Finals
[3] Alina Bushma (UKR) bt [5] Sohaila Ismail (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 13-11, 13-11 (48m)
Lucia Bautista (COL) bt [2] Laura Tovar (COL) 3-2: 11-6, 5-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8 (79m)

Quarter Finals
[5] Sohaila Ismail (EGY) bt [1] Tessa ter Sluis (NED) 3-0: 11-2, 11-8, 11-7 (27m)
[3] Aina Bushma (UKR) bt Ellie Jones (SCO) 3-1: 11-8, 16-18, 11-5, 11-8 (44m)
Lucia Bautista (COL) bt Sanne Veldkamp (NED) 3-0: 11-9, 12-10, 12-10 (39m)
[2] Laura Tovar (COL) bt [8] Erisa Sano Herring (JPN) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (28m)

First Round
[1] Tessa ter Sluis (NED) bt Maria Tovar (COL) 3-0: 12-10, 11-3, 11-4 (26m)
[5] Sohaila Ismail (EGY) bt Carys Jones (SCO) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-9 (29m)
Ellie Jones (SCO) bt [6] Polly Clark (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9 (31m)
[3] Alina Bushma (UKR) bt Ingy Hammouda (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 11-1, 7-11, 12-10 (59m)
Lucia Bautista (COL) bt [4] Anastasiia Kostiukova (UKR) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 (34m)
Sanne Veldkamp (NED) bt [7] Kincso Szasz (HUN) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-5 (15m)
[8] Erisa Sano Herring (JPN) bt [WC] Laura Silva (BRA) 3-0; 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 (26m)
[2] Laura Tovar (COL) bt Mary Mijas (GUA) 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-1 (24m)