US number one Julian Illingworth celebrated his first PSA World Tour title success on foreign soil when he won the GoodLife Open in Ottawa, Canada.
Top-seeded in the $10,000 Tour event in its sixth year at the city’s Goodlife Fitness Club, Illingworth reached the final without dropping a game – despatching Canadians in the penultimate two rounds.
But awaiting the 26-year-old record six-time national champion in the final was fourth seed Joe Lee. The 21-year-old Englishman had claimed his unexpected place in the climax after overcoming twice former champion Shawn Delierre, the No7 seed from Canada who had ousted second seed Gilly Lane, from the USA, in the earlier round.
Lee fully tested the American, ranked more than 40 places higher, for almost an hour – but Illingworth stuck to his task and eventually closed out the match 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 after 54 minutes to become the first US winner of the Canadian title.
The triumph takes New York-based Illingworth’s career tally to four titles, following previous Tour successes in Rhode Island, Baltimore and California.
Final:
[1] Julian Illingworth (USA) bt [4] Joe Lee (ENG) 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (54m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Julian Illingworth (USA) bt [5] David Phillips (CAN) 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 (35m)
[4] Joe Lee (ENG) bt [7] Shawn Delierre (CAN) 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7 (66m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Julian Illingworth (USA) bt [8] Andrew McDougall (CAN) 11-9, 11-6, 12-10 (45m)
[5] David Phillips (CAN) bt Peter Creed (WAL) 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 (31m)
[4] Joe Lee (ENG) bt [6] Robin Clarke (CAN) 10-12, 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-0 (72m)
[7] Shawn Delierre (CAN) bt [2] Gilly Lane (USA) 10-12, 12-10, 11-5, 11-4 (63m)
1st round:
[1] Julian Illingworth (USA) bt Rasmus Nielsen (DEN) 11-8, 11-8, 11-1 (30m)
[8] Andrew McDougall (CAN) bt Maxym Leclair (CAN) 11-3, 11-2, 7-11, 11-5 (32m)
Peter Creed (WAL) bt [3] Laurence Delasaux (ENG) 11-4, 11-8, 5-2 ret. (14m)
[5] David Phillips (CAN) bt Adrian Dudzicki (CAN) 11-5, 11-4, 11-2 (18m)
[6] Robin Clarke (CAN) bt Tyler Hamilton (CAN) 9-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-4, 11-6 (54m)
[4] Joe Lee (ENG) bt Matthew Serediak (CAN) 11-6, 11-4, 11-9
[7] Shawn Delierre (CAN) bt Tom Pashley (ENG) 11-5, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8 (55m)
[2] Gilly Lane (USA) bt Nathan Stevenson (AUS) 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-0 (42m)
