Australia’s Zac Alexander stamped his authority on the rest of the field when he took out the Hitachi Queensland Open title without dropping a game throughout the PSA World Tour Challenger 5 tournament.
The top-seeded Queenslander downed German giant-killer Raphael Kandra 11-7, 11-7, 11-1 at the Sandgate Squash Centre in Deagon to claim his first Queensland senior title after winning multiple junior honours.
The New York-based Alexander was using the Queensland Open to fine-tune his game head of qualifying for the Australian Open next month.
“I didn’t concede a game all week, which was sort of my goal at the start of the tournament,” said the Brisbane-born 22-year-old.
“It was tough today – I’d never seen or heard of him before but I knew he was a giant killer. He upset the number two seed, the number six seed and the fourth seed this week, so I didn’t know what to expect.
“It was tough for the first two games but I think by the end he was feeling the effects of his long week.”
Alexander was thrilled to add the senior title to his trophy cabinet.
“I won a few junior titles but to win the senior one is really good and hopefully it will give me a bit of confidence going into qualifying for Canberra,” he said.
Final:
[1] Zac Alexander (AUS) bt Raphael Kandra (GER) 11-7, 11-7, 11-1
Semi-finals:
[1] Zac Alexander (AUS) bt [3] Bradley Hindle (MLT) 11-7, 11-7, 11-5
Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [4] Lewis Walters (ENG) 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9
Quarter-finals:
[1] Zac Alexander (AUS) bt [Q] Alex Phillips (ENG) 11-6, 11-1, 11-2
[3] Bradley Hindle (MLT) bt Rory Pennell (ENG) 11-4, 11-4, 11-3
[4] Lewis Walters (ENG) bt [Q] Norman Junge (GER) 11-9, 11-3, 14-12
Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [6] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 9-11, 12-10, 19-17, 11-6
2nd round:
[1] Zac Alexander (AUS) bt [Q] Nathan Turnbull (AUS) 11-6, 11-5, 11-2 (24m)
[Q] Alex Phillips (ENG) bt [7] Josh Cardwell (AUS) 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10 (75m)
Rory Pennell (ENG) bt [5] Nathan Stevenson (AUS) 11-4, 11-6, 10-12, 8-11, 14-12 (60m)
[3] Bradley Hindle (MLT) bt Ondrej Ertl (CZE) 11-1, 11-2, 11-5 (34m)
[4] Lewis Walters (ENG) bt Owais Khan (PAK) 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 (29m)
[Q] Norman Junge (GER) bt Paul Coll (NZL) 13-11, 11-9, 11-9 (45m)
[6] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) bt Joseph Watts (NZL) 14-12, 11-1, 11-3 (25m)
Raphael Kandra (GER) bt Roman Svec (CZE) 11-7, 13-11, 11-6 (32m)
1st round:
[1] Zac Alexander (AUS) bt Kevin Moran (SCO) 11-0, 11-2, 11-4 (22m)
[Q] Nathan Turnbull (AUS) bt [Q] Bryce Redman (NZL) 11-2, 11-6, 11-6 (23m)
[Q] Alex Phillips (ENG) bt Sunil Seth (AUS) 11-7, 11-4, 11-2 (19m)
[7] Josh Cardwell (AUS) bt [Q] Chris Ferguson (SCO) 11-5, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6 (60m)
[5] Nathan Stevenson (AUS) bt [Q] Joshua Stack-Masula (AUS) 11-5, 11-4, 11-0 (20m)
Rory Pennell (ENG) bt [Q] Tsukue Shinnosuke (JPN) 11-9, 11-8, 13-11 (37m)
Ondrej Ertl (CZE) bt Courtney West (AUS) 11-7, 11-6, 12-10 (40m)
[3] Bradley Hindle (MLT) bt Lukas Burkhart (SUI) 11-5, 11-1, 11-1 (30m)
[4] Lewis Walters (ENG) bt Luc Rance (AUS) 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 (20m)
Owais Khan (PAK) bt Ben Takamizawa Harris (JPN) 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-4 (38m)
Paul Coll (NZL) bt Jonas Daehler (SUI) 11-8, 11-3, 11-9 (29m)
[Q] Norman Junge (GER) bt [8] Jamie Mcervale (AUS) 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 (34m)
[6] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) bt [Q] Evan Williams (NZL) 5-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8 (76m)
Joseph Watts (NZL) bt Luke Sims (AUS) 14-12, 11-8, 11-9 (35m)
Roman Svec (CZE) bt James Skiffington (NZL) 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (26m)
Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [2] Kashif Shuja (NZL) 12-14, 6-11, 11-2, 11-4, 11-7 (60m)
Qualifying finals:
Chris Ferguson (SCO) bt Aamir Khan (UAE) 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12 (48m)
Nathan Turnbull (AUS) bt Ben Marschall (AUS) 11-3, 11-7, 11-8 (21m)
Joshua Stack-Masula (AUS) bt Mitch Paul Chaisson (CAN) 7-11, 11-3, 11-6, 13-11 (37m)
Norman Junge (GER) bt Dylan Swanson (NZL) 11-6, 11-8, 11-1 (40m)
Alex Phillips (ENG) bt Lance Beddoes (NZL) 5-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9 (54m)
Tsukue Shinnosuke (JPN) bt Joshua Southwell-Nobbs (AUS) 12-10, 11-4, 11-9 (30m)
Bryce Redman (NZL) bt Thomas Calvert (AUS) 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (28m)
Evan Williams (NZL) bt Bradley Freeme (AUS) 7-11, 11-9, 11-0, 11-8 (48m)
1st qualifying round:
Aamir Khan (UAE) bt Faisal Riaz (PAK) w/o
Nathan Turnbull (AUS) bt Andrew Pringle (AUS) 3-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 (35m)
Mitch Paul Chaisson (CAN) bt Wahab Khan (PAK) w/o
Alex Phillips (ENG) bt Lachlan Johnston (AUS) 11-9, 11-8, 11-3 (22m)
Bryce Redman (NZL) bt Ben Somerville (AUS) 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 (25m)
Bradley Freeme (AUS) bt Jason Pike (ENG) 12-10, 11-6, 11-8 (36m)
