Weekend Round-Up: Malhotra and Fuller Claim Victories

India’s Vikram Malhotra and England’s Lyell Fuller were the two winners on the PSA Challenger Tour this week, with both players taking their first titles of 2020 on North American soil.

The biggest tournament of the week came in Portland, with Malhotra lifting the Oregon Open title, a PSA Challenger 20 event, as he downed Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas in the final.

The Indian fell behind in the final, as the No.3 seed Cardenas won the first game on a tie-break. However, Malhotra fought back to win the next three games to win his 12th PSA World Tour crown, and his second in the last three months.

It was not all plain sailing for the World No.57 in Portland though, as he had to go to a fifth game tie-break to overcome one of the home favourites, Andrew Douglas, in the second round of the tournament.

Having lost the fourth game in a lengthy tie-break, the decider also went the distance, with the Indian eventually getting the better of Douglas 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 13-15, 14-12. Malhotra then downed Welshman Peter Creed and Mexico’s Jesus Camacho to reach the final in Portland.

The other event on the Challenger Tour this week came north of the border, with the Assante Wealth Management Carter Classic taking place in Toronto, Canada.

England’s Lyell Fuller was the man to take the spoils, getting the better of Argentina’s Leandro Romiglio in straight games in a 44-minute affair, claiming his first title in over 18 months.

Having overcome Belgium’s Joeri Happens in the first round, Fuller then defeated unseeded Italian Yuri Farneti to reach the last four, where he needed to fight back to beat No.3 seed Mario Yanez.

The Mexican held a 2-1 lead in their semi-final clash, but the Englishman was able to battle back to win the last two games to win the final in five, claiming his third title on the PSA World Tour.

The PSA Challenger Tour continues this week with two more events in Canada, the Chronicle Wealth Guilfoyle PSA Squash Classic and the Mount Royal University Open.

Result – Men’s Final: Oregon Open
[1] Vikram Malhotra (IND) bt [3] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) 3-1: 10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 11-4

Result – Men’s Final: Assante Wealth Management Carter Classic
[6] Lyell Fuller (ENG) bt Leandro Romiglio (ARG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-9 (44m)