Challenger Events
3rd Open de Lagord: Masotti and Lobban to Meet in Final
Home favourite Baptiste Masotti will take on Scotland’s Greg Lobban in the 3rd Open de Lagord final, after the players came through contrasting semi-finals.
Playing No.8 seed Ivan Yuen in the day’s first match, Masotti put himself in pole position by winning the first two games inside 20 minutes, but the Malaysian responded well.
He took an early lead in game three which he never relinquished, and made a fast start in game four, but was unable to close it out to keep the match alive.
In fact, Masotti trailed for almost the entire fourth game, falling 2-1 behind early and only levelling again at 9-9. He lost the following rally to hand Yuen a game ball, but saved it before winning the next two points to book his spot in the final.
His opponent in the final will be World No.21 Lobban, setting up a rematch of their dramatic round-two encounter in last week’s Grasshopper Cup.
In a best-of-three matchup in Zurich, Lobban was a game up and leading 10-7 in the second, only to lose all three match balls and allow Masotti to make a stirring comeback.
That was the Frenchman’s fourth win in five attempts over Lobban, but the Scot will be the fresher of the two this time around, having spent just nine minutes on court in his semi-final.
Trailing 11-4, 3-1, England’s George Parker was forced to retire, handing Lobban a place in what will be his 25th PSA Tour final.
His record in the previous 24 is exactly 50/50, winning 12 and losing 12, with his most recent success coming in another 30k event, last year’s Cannon Kirk Irish Squash Open.
Results: Men’s Semi-Finals
[1] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt [8] Ivan Yuen (MAS) 3-1: 11-6, 11-4, 8-11, 12-10 (39m)
[2] Greg Lobban (SCO) bt [5] George Parker (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 3-1 retired (9m)
Draw: Men’s Final
[1] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) v [2] Greg Lobban (SCO)
