Romanian Open: Balazs Claims Second Victory Of Year

Hungary’s Farkas Balazs has secured his second title of the year with a win at the Romanian Open, taking the victory at Squash Club Cluj-Napoca as the top seed for the tournament.

The Hungarian came into the Challenger 5 level event as the top seed, and defeated one of four home hopes, Dumitru Golan, in just 18 minutes.

Balazs also got the better of India’s No.5 seed Abhishek Agarwal in straight games to make it through to the final, where he then defeated Welshman Elliott Morris Devred in a 49-minute contest.

The World No.91 had to battle in the final against England’s Ben Smith, with the tournament’s No.7 seed fighting back from a game down twice to send the contest into a deciding game. However, Balazs was able to claim the title, as he won the fifth 11-6, to add to his win at the SquashBerek Open back in March.

Results: Romanian Open
Final
[1] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt [7] Ben Smith (ENG) 3-2: 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-6 (54m)

Semi-Finals
[1] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt [3] Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) 3-1: 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8 (49m)
[7] Ben Smith (ENG) bt [2] Robin Gadola (SUI) 3-0: 12-10, 11-3, 11-9 (41m)

Quarter Finals
[1] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt [5] Abhishek Agarwal (IND) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 (34m)
[3] Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) bt [8] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) 3-2: 5-11, 6-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-8 (48m)
[7] Ben Smith (ENG) bt [4] Abhishek Pradhan (IND) 3-1: 8-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-8 (36m)
[2] Robin Gadola (SUI) bt [6] Aadit Zaveri (IND) 3-1: 11-13, 11-3, 11-9, 11-2 (38m)

Round One
[1] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt Dumitru Golan (ROM) 3-0: 11-2, 11-2, 11-3 (18m)
[5] Abhishek Agarwal (IND) bt Marc Lopez (ESP) 3-0: 11-0, 11-8, 11-3 (10m)
[8] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt Radu Pena (ROM) 3-0: 11-1, 11-3, 11-3 (18m)
[3] Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) bt Bogdan Vasile (ROM) 3-0: 11-3, 11-2, 11-4 (25m)
[4] Abhishek Pradhan (IND) bt Makar Esin (RUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-6, 11-3 (21m)
[7] Ben Smith (ENG) bt Richard Dragomir (ROM) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-1 (19m)
[6] Aadit Zaveri (IND) bt Lennard Hinrichs (GER) 3-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-4 (18m)
[2] Robin Gadola (SUI) bt Laszlo Godde (FRA) 3-0; 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 (26m)