Challenger Tour Round-Up: Poleshchuk Holds Off Nasser, Top Seeds Through in Denver

Cognac Open 

No.2 seed Daniel Poleshchuk survived an impressive fightback from Egypt’s Mohamed Nasser to book his place in the Cognac Open final. 

The Israeli player had made light work of his first two opponents in this event, spending less than an hour on court in total, and looked as though he might be heading for another straight-games win at 2-0 up in this one. 

Nasser, though, had other ideas, winning the next two games 11-7, 11-9 to set up a decider, but crucially, Poleshchuk took control at the start of game five, winning the first five points to get a lead he would never relinquish. 

His reward will be a meeting in the final with the Czech Republic’s Jakub Solnicky, who came from a game down to beat Matthew Lai. 

The No.5 seed dropped game one on a tie break, but won the next three games by a scoreline of 11-7 to move within one win of glory. 

Grizzly Bear Bourbon Mile High 360 Squash Classic 

Seven of the eight seeds made it through to the quarter-finals on day two of the Grizzly Bear Bourbon Mile High 360 Squash Classic, with Tang Ming Hong the only exception. 

Tang was beaten 3-1 by Egypt’s Ziad Sakr, who will now play another Hong Kong player in Wong Chi Him. 

No.1 seed Cesar Salazar needed four games to get past England’s Mark Broekman, dropping the first 11-9 before running out a 3-1 winner in 45 minutes, while second seed Faraz Khan made much lighter work of Saeed Abdul, taking just 24 minutes to record an 11-2, 11-9, 11-5 victory. 

Bondi Open 

Day one of the Bondi Open saw the men’s competition get underway, with the women’s event beginning on day two. 

There was still plenty of home interest across the day, though, with nine Australian players in action, five of whom recorded wins. 

Among them was Caleb Johnson who won an all-Aussie battle with the higher-ranked Javed Ali, while Cameron Darton also came through a domestic duel with compatriot Lachlan Coxsedge. 

Darton will now play No.2 seed Nicholas Calvert in round two, with an all-Australian quarter-final guaranteed, as Tate Zak Norris and Brendan MacDonald face off in the same quarter of the draw. 

You can stay up to date with all the results on the PSA Tour here.