Austin South Open: Khan Downs Brownell To Claim Victory

World No.84 Faraz Khan has continued his fine form on the Challenger Tour with a second victory in five events, after a win at the Assurance Financial Austin South Squash Open.

The Challenger 10 level event was restricted to those currently living in Canada, Mexico and the host nation, United States, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but due to the multi-national nature of the USA, there were eight nationalities represented in the tournament.

Khan received a bye through to the second round of the event due to being the No.3 seed in Texas and he then overcame Frenchman Lucas Rousselet in his opening match of the tournament.

The American then defeated Colombia’s Matias Knudsen in a four-game battle in the last eight, before then defeating No.2 seed, and the man ten places above him in the World Rankings, compatriot Christopher Gordon.

After defeating one American to make the final, he then came up against another to battle it out for the title in Timothy Brownell. Two of the three games went to a tie-break, but Khan took it in straight games, claiming his third victory on Tour.

He also maintains his run of reaching at least the last eight of Challenger Tour events to nine tournament, dating back to the Life Time Vegas Open in 2019.

Results: Assurance Financial Austin South Squash Open
Final
[3] Faraz Khan (USA) bt [6] Timothy Brownell (USA) 3-0: 12-10, 11-4, 14-12 (49m)

Semi-Finals
[6] Timothy Brownell (USA) bt [8] Asyraf Azan (MAS) 3-0: 11-3, 11-6, 1-1 rtd (36m)
[3] Faraz Khan (USA) bt [2] Christopher Gordon (USA) 3-1: 11-5, 11-13, 11-8, 11-2 (60m)

Quarter-Finals
[8] Asyraf Azan (MAS) bt [1] Alfredo Avila (MEX) 3-2: 6-11, 2-11 rtd (18m)
[6] Timothy Brownell (USA) bt Alister Walker (BOT) 3-1: 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 (46m)
[3] Faraz Khan (USA) bt Matias Knudsen (COL) 3-1: 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 (54m)
[2] Christopher Gordon (USA) bt [5] Spencer Lovejoy (USA) 3-2: 11-4, 5-11, 1-11, 11-8, 11-7 (60m)

Round Two
[1] Alfredo Avila (MEX) bt Jorge Gomez (MEX) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (34m)
[8] Asyraf Azan (MAS) bt Allan Nunez (MEX) 3-1: 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8 (38m)
[6] Timothy Brownell (USA) bt [WC] Sebastian De La Vega (USA) 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 (21m)
Alister Walker (BOT) bt [4] Lyell Fuller (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-2, 11-6 (21m)
[3] Faraz Khan (USA) bt Lucas Rousselet (FRA) 3-0: 11-3, 11-8, 11-5 (25m)
Matias Knudsen (COL) bt [7] Mark Broekman (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-3, 11-4 (22m)
[5] Spencer Lovejoy (USA) bt Abdul Malik Khan (PAK) 3-0: 11-7, 11-3, 11-9 (26m)
[2] Christopher Gordon (USA) bt Juan Carlos Gomez (MEX) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 (23m)

Round One
Jorge Gomez (MEX) bt Nick Sutcliffe (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 (35m)
Allan Nunez (MEX) bt Ezequiel Witis (USA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-1, 11-1 (16m)
[WC] Sebastian De La Vega (USA) bt Miled Zarazua (MEX) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 13-11 (28m)
Alister Walker (BOT) bt [WC] Marco DiFilippo (USA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-1, 11-8 (30m)
Lucas Rousselet (FRA) bt Vandrick Inman-Benavente (USA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 (18m)
Matias Knudsen (COL) bt Salma Rafique (USA) 3-0: 11-1, 11-7, 11-2 (17m)
Abdul Malik Khan (PAK) bt [WC] Haidar Jafry (USA) 3-0: 13-11, 11-3, 11-3 (32m)
Juan Carlos Gomez (MEX) bt Labeeb Ali (USA) 3-0: 11-2, 11-2, 11-5 (15m)