Malhotra Claims Charlotte Open Crown

#PSAWorldTour

Indian World No.92 Vikram Malhotra came out on top of a tightly-contested fixture with tournament top seed Lewis Walters in the final of the Charlotte Open, PSA M5 event to capture his second successive PSA World Tour title.

Malhotra, who was playing in his fourth final in his last five PSA World Tour events, came through two five-game battles against Anthony Graham and Clinton Leeuw in the quarter-final and semi-final, respectively, to reach the final hurdle, while Walters defeated Jon Geekie, Reuben Phillips and Jesus Camacho.

26-year-old Malhotra started well and had the better of the opening exchanges as his intelligent shot selection and accuracy enabled him to move Walters away from the ‘T’ and he duly took a one-game lead.

Walters, the Jamaican No.2, fired back in the second game but Malhotra was soon back in the ascendancy and won game three to reclaim the lead.

The Mumbai-born number two seed upped his game even further in the fourth to record an 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6 victory to follow up March’s Malaysia Squash Tour I title in style and lift the third PSA World Tour crown of his career.

Result – Final: Charlotte Open 2016
[2] Vikram Malhotra (IND) bt [1] Lewis Walters (JAM) 3-1: 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6 (60m)