Odense Open SF: Jaume Downs Top Seed To Reach Final

Spain’s Bernat Jaume is into the final of the Odense Open after beating defending champion and top seed Balazs Farkas on Friday evening.

The Hungarian won the Challenger 10 level competition in 2022, to secure a spot at the CIB PSA World Championships Cairo. However, Jaume stopped him from retaining his title this year, with a confident come-from-behind performance to win in four games.

It was the higher-ranked Farkas that took the opening game 11-7. The second then went to a tie-break, but Jaume suck it 12-10 to level the contest, and to turn the momentum in his favour. From there, he was in control, winning the third and fourth quite comfortably to book his spot into a first final since November 2021.

He will take on Scotland’s Rory Stewart after the tournament’s No.3 seed downed Englishman Ben Coleman in straight games. All three games were battles, with a match time of 53 minutes, but it was the Scot who won out 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 to advance to the final. 

Jaume and Stewart have played twice on Tour before, with the Spaniard winning on both occasions. Their last meeting was an 86-minute, five-game battle at the Everbright Securities International Hong Kong Squash Open last year.

In the women’s event, unseeded Egyptian Malak Khafagy continued her amazing run, downing another of the top seeds to reach the final. After knocking out top seed Cindy Merlo and No.8 seed Torrie Malik, the 18-year-old got the better of Spain’s Marta Dominguez Fernandez in four games on Friday evening.

The Egyptian, ranked 13 places below Fernandez, won the opening game 11-8. The Spanish No.2 fought back to win the second game, but from there on, Khafagy took charge. The 18-year-old won both the third and fourth games to cruise home to victory, and to move through to her third final on Tour. She will look to claim her maiden Tour title on Saturday in Odense.

In her way will be the tournament’s No.2 seed, Finland’s Emilia Soini. The Finn came from behind to down new Zealand’s Kaitlyn Watts in the last four. Watts took the opening game 11-9 ,before Soini levelled up the contest after winning the second. A crucial tie-break went the way of the Finnish No.1 in the third, with Soini winning it 15-13, before then going on to claim the fourth 11-9 to book her place in the final.

The finals of the Odense Open will take place on Saturday, March 11, with th Challenger 10 level titles being won at the Odense Squash Club. You can keep up to date with daily updates from the tournament on the PSA Challenger Tour’s Twitter and Facebook. Action from Odense is being streamed throughout the week on the Odense Squash Club YouTube channel.

Men’s Semi-Final Results: Odense Open
[5] Bernat Jaume (ESP) bt [1] Balazs Farkas (HUN) 3-1: 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-3 (55m)
[3] Rory Stewart (SCO) bt Ben Coleman (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 (53m)

Men’s Final Draw: To Be Played Saturday, March 11
[5] Bernat Jaume (ESP) v [3] Rory Stewart (SCO)

Women’s Semi-Final Results: Odense Open
Malak Khafagy (EGY) bt [4] Marta Dominguez Fernandez (ESP) 3-1: 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-4 (41m)
[2] Emilia Soini (FIN) bt [6] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) 3-1: 9-11, 11-8, 15-13, 11-9 (48m)

Women’s Final Draw: To Be Played Saturday, March 11
Malak Khafagy (EGY) v [2] Emilia Soini (FIN)