Challenger Events
3rd Open de Lagord: Home Favourite Masotti Claims Sixth Tour Title
France’s Baptiste Masotti claimed the biggest title of his career, beating Greg Lobban 3-2 to win the 3rd Open de Lagord on home soil.
Masotti came into the final having spent more than two hours on court this week, following a run to the semi-finals of the Grasshopper Cup in Zurich last week.
He needed a fifth-game tie-break to beat Edwin Clain in round two, before seeing off Declan James 3-0 and Ivan Yuen 3-1 to reach the final.
Lobban, meanwhile, had only played nine minutes of his semi-final before his opponent George Parker retired, and would have been hoping those fresher legs would give him the edge.
He took a one-game lead after coming from 6-2 down to win game one 11-9, but the No.1 seed responded well in front of his home crowd, winning eight points out of nine to move from 4-4 to 11-5.
The Frenchman then moved within one game of glory by taking the third 11-6, only for Lobban to hit back in game four, racing out to an early 5-1 lead which he saw through to win 11-7.
The decider was a tight and tense affair with the title on the line, as the players found themselves locked at 8-8 after more than an hour of play in total.
But just as he did when the pair met in Switzerland a few days ago, Masotti came up trumps when it mattered most, winning the next three points to secure victory.
The win handed Masotti the sixth title of his PSA career, and his first in a 30k event, adding to three 10k titles and a pair of 5ks he had previously got his hands on.
Result: Men’s Final
[1] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt [2] Greg Lobban (SCO) 3-2: 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8 (68m)
