Czech Pro Series 1: Gaultier Takes Fourth Straight Challenger Crown

For the fourth consecutive Challenger Tour event, former World No.1 Gregory Gaultier has scythed his way through the field, and this week he has taken the Czech Pro Series 1 title without breaking a sweat.

The Frenchman, who has lifted the Expression Networks Nolan and Liam’s Tournament, Expression Networks Prague Open and Expression Networks Enjoy Open since the Tour restarted in September, cruised to another win in Prague this week.

Squasclub Strahov was the venue for the Challenger 10 level event, and the draw went to seedings in the first round, with the top eight all dismissing their respective opponents in straight games, no match taking longer than half an hour.

It got more interesting in the quarter-finals though, as No.5 seed Jakub Solnicky and No.6 seed Ondrej Uherka set up a last four clash between themselves, after they both downed higher seeded players to advance.

On the other side of the draw, top seed Gaultier met England’s Robert Downer, with the Frenchman taking the victory to advance through to yet another final in his wonderful career.

He faced Solnicky, who got the better of Uherka in the all Czech semi-final, and it would be the ‘French General’ that took the title. The World No.39 now has 43 titles to his name, and he continues to blitz the lower events.

Results: Czech Pro Series 1
Final
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [5] Jakub Solnicky (CZE) 3-0: 11-2, 11-6, 11-3 (23m)

Semi-Finals
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [4] Robert Downer (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 (26m)
[5] Jakub Solnicky (CZE) bt [6] Ondrej Uherka (CZE) 3-1: 11-5, 11-5, 10-12, 11-1 (47m)

Quarter-Finals
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [8] Marek Panacek (CZE) 3-0: 11-1, 11-1, 11-5 (20m)
[4] Robert Downer (ENG) bt [7] David Zeman (CZE) 3-1: 11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9 (59m)
[6] Ondrej Uherka (CZE) bt [3] Martin Svec (CZE) 3-2: 9-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-7 (70m)
[5] Jakub Solnicky (CZE) bt [2] Daniel Mekbib (CZE) 3-0: 11-1, 11-8, 11-6 (24m)

Round One
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-4 (21m)
[8] Marek Panacek (CZE) bt Petr Nohel (CZE) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (14m)
[7] David Zeman (CZE) bt Lubos Walter Jr (CZE) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 (17m)
[4] Robert Downer (ENG) bt Jachym Mracek (CZE) 3-0: 11-1, 11-7, 11-6 (15m)
[3] Martin Svec (CZE) bt Kristian Mracek (CZE) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 (20m)
[6] Ondrej Uherka (CZE) bt Karim Farrag (CZE) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-3 (26m)
[5] Jakub Solnicky (CZE) bt Adam Sinkule (CZE) 3-0: 11-7, 11-2, 11-4 (18m)
[2] Daniel Mekbib (CZE) bt Heiko Schwarzer (GER) 3-0: 11-8, 12-10, 11-9 (28m)