Gear and Romiglio named PSA Challenger Tour Players of the Month for December

England’s Grace Gear and Argentina’s Leandro Romiglio have been named the PSA Challenger Tour Players of the Month for December.

Gear continued her great form with an incredible victory at the Sportwerk Women’s Open, as she downed four higher-ranked seeded players to win her second crown of the year.

The unseeded 23-year-old beat Ninon Lemarchand and No.6 seed Cristina Gomez in the opening two rounds, before knocking out No.3 seed Ineta Mackevica in the quarter finals and coming from behind to beat compatriot and No.7 seed Lily Taylor in the semis.

In an epic final against Scotland’s No.8 seed Georgia Adderley, Gear remarkably came from two games down to snatch her second title of the year.

In the Czech Pro Series VI, Romiglio, too, came into the tournament unseeded.

The 30-year-old was in red-hot form throughout the event, though. He began with a comfortable win over wildcard Adam Sinkule, before coming from behind to take down the tournament’s No.3 seed Robert Downer in an 80-minute battle.

Romiglio then knocked out No.5 seed Jakub Solnicky in the quarter finals and No.2 seed Martin Svec in the semis to set up an unlikely final against a fellow unseeded player, Wales’ Peter Creed.

The Argentine came out of the blocks flying in the final and dominated from the beginning, securing a 3-0 win in 51 minutes.