Moscow Squash Open: Taylor and Vargas Victorious

The Moscow Squash Open came to its conclusion on Tuesday evening at Squash Club Moscow, with England’s Lily Taylor and Colombian Juan Camilo Vargas taking the titles.

The event was the first fully international tournament held in Moscow in 2021, with Challenger 5 titles on off for both the men’s and women’s events this week.

Englishwoman Lily Taylor was the top seed for the women’s event, and she dropped just a single game en route to the title, having started with comfortable victories over Maria Arseniev and Aylin Gunsav.

Her semi-final was a tougher test, as she lost the second game against Egypt’s Nour Megahed, but she came through to win 2-1 to advance to the final of the Challenger 5 level tournament.

The Englishwoman then came up against the tournament’s No.2 seed, Hungarian Hannah Chukwu, in the final, and required just 24 minutes on court to take her first title of 2021, winning 3-0.

Colombia’s Juan Camilo Vargas took the title in the men’s event, with a much different path to the title. He received a bye through to the second round of the 24-man draw due to his No.2 seeding position, before then beating Egypt’s Ahmed Abualela in straight games.

Wins over Frenchman Edwin Clain and Russian No.1 Vladislav Titov saw the Colombian through to the final, where he came up against the event’s top seed, Hungary’s Farkas Balazs.

The final swung both ways, but Vargas found himself behind on two occasions, having lost both the first and third games of the contest. He was able to fight back, and won the final two games to claim his second title of the year.

Results: Moscow Squash Open
Men’s Final
[2] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) bt [1] Farkas Balazs (HUN) 3-2: 5-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-2 (59m)

Women’s Final
[1] Lily Taylor (ENG) bt [2] Hannah Chukwu (HUN) 3-0: 11-8, 11-4, 11-6 (24m)

Men’s Semi-Finals
[1] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt [4] David Zeman (CZE) 3-1: 11-6, 11-3, 9-11, 11-7 (41m)
[2] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) bt [3] Vladislav Titov (RUS) 3-1: 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4 (51m)

Women’s Semi-Finals
[1] Lily Taylor (ENG) bt [8] Nour Megahed (EGY) 3-1: 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6 (35m)
[2] Hannah Chukwu (HUN) bt Alesya Aleshina (RUS) 3-2: 10-12, 8-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-4 (44m)

Men’s Quarter-Finals
[1] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt [8] Valeriy Fedoruk (UKR) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 (23m)
[4] David Zeman (CZE) bt [5] Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) 3-2: 8-11, 11-6, 11-1, 8-11, 11-6 (58m)
[3] Vladislav Titov (RUS) bt Sandeep Ramachandran (IND) 3-1; 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 0-0 rtd (43m)
[2] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) bt [6] Edwin Clain (FRA) 3-0: 11-6, 14-12, 11-3 (51m)

Women’s Quarter-Finals
[1] Lily Taylor (ENG) bt [5] Aylin Gunsav (GER) 3-0: 11-8, 11-3, 11-8 (20m)
[8] Nour Megahed (EGY) bt [3] Saskia Beinhard (GER) 3-1: 11-6, 3-11, 12-10, 11-4 (15m)
Alesya Aleshina (RUS) bt [7] Varvara Esina (RUS) 3-0: 12-10, 11-6, 11-7 (28m)
[2] Hannah Chukwu (HUN) bt [6] Anastasiia Kostiukova (UKR) 3-1: 11-3, 11-6, 4-11, 11-7 (30m)

Men’s Round Two
[1] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt Makar Esin (RUS) 3-0: 12-10, 11-6, 11-6 (24m)
[8] Valeriy Fedoruk (UKR) bt Lukas Windischberger (AUT) 3-0: 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 (28m)
[5] Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) bt Pablo Dolz (ESP) 3-1: 11-2, 11-5, 8-11, 11-9 (47m)
[4] David Zeman (CZE) bt Manu Paquemar (FRA) 3-1: 11-4, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7 (46m)
[3] Vladislav Titov (RUS) bt Seif Nasser (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 7-11, 13-11, 11-5 (42m)
Sandeep Ramachandran (IND) bt [7] Fergus Richards (SCO) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 (40m)
[6] Edwin Clain (FRA) bt Rohan Mandil (FRA) 3-0; 11-3, 11-2, 11-6 (28m)
[2] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) bt Ahmed Abualela (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 (28m)

Women’s Round One
[1] Lily Taylor (ENG) bt Maria Arseniev (RUS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-4, 11-2 (20m)
[5] Aylin Gunsav (GER) bt Ekatarina Glinchikova (RUS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-1, 11-4 (16m)
[8] Nour Megahed (EGY) bt Varya Kliueva (RUS) 3-1: 10-12, 11-6, 11-1, 11-4 (28m)
[3] Saskia Beinhard (GER) bt Kseniya Borkova (RUS) 3-0: 11-0, 11-1, 11-5 (13m)
Alesya Aleshina (RUS) bt [4] Kincso Szasz (ROM) 3-0: 11-1, 11-2, 11-6 (14m)
[7] Varvara Esina (RUS) bt Anastasia Spitsina (RUS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-1, 11-9 (9m)
[6] Anastasiia Kostiukova (UKR) bt Ekaterina Marusan (RUS) 3-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 (19m)
[2] Hannah Chukwu (HUN) bt Olivia Besant (RS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-5 (15m)

Men’s Round One
Makar Esin (RUS) bt Petr Smekhov (RUS) 3-2: 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4 (44m)
Lukas Windischberger (AUT) bt [WC] Igor Sivkov (RUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 12-10 (23m)
Pablo Dolz (ESP) bt [WC] Alexander Sadchikov (RUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 13-11 (24m)
Manu Paquemar (FRA) bt Alexey Kilmov (RUS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 11-7 (16m)
Seif Nasser (EGY) bt Konstantin Kostrykin (RUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 (19m)
Sandeep Ramachandran (IND) bt Ahmed Marzouk (EGY) 3-1: 11-8, 12-10, 2-11, 11-5 (44m)
Rohan Mandil (FRA) bt [WC] Alexander Beloborodov (RUS) 3-0: 11-1, 11-4, 11-6 (23m)
Ahmed Abualela (EGY) bt [WC] Mikhail Skurikhin (RUS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-2 (14m)