Zaman Overcomes Creed in Salt Lake City

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Number five seed Farhan Zaman came through a dramatic five game affair with Peter Creed to book his place in the semi-final of the Wasatch Funds Salt Lake City Open, PSA M10 event.

The World No.68 dropped the opening game but pegged back the energetic Creed in the second. A third game then followed which featured a multitude of gut-busting rallies as Zaman took a narrow lead after an exciting tie-break.

Creed levelled things up in the fourth but Zaman fought back in the fifth and final game to record a 7-11, 11-6, 15-13, 4-11, 11-4 victory to earn his spot in the next round.

He will go up against second seed Martin Knight in the semi-final after the New Zealander romped to a straight games win against Canada’s Michael McCue.

“That was a good match.” said Zaman.

“I was expecting it from Peter because he is the fourth seed in this tournament. I knew he would do his best to play a good match and to beat me so I was really focused. I’m not that patient on the court but I tried to be calm and I tried to make myself patient.

“I wanted to win the third game because I knew that if I lost it he wouldn’t give me a chance in the fourth. The court is quite bouncy and my game isn’t working that well so I need to be calmer to take the points. I tried to make the rallies longer even though I prefer to play a short game.

“I knew that he was going to try to hit the nick so I made a plan to hit it before he did. I beat him [Knight] 3-1 two years ago. He is a good player and more experienced than me. I’m hoping for a good match with Martin, he’s a nice guy.”

Henrik Mustonen and Ben Coleman meanwhile will face off in the other semi-final fixture after respective victories over Arthur Gaskin and Leandro Romiglio allowed them to progress.

Results – Quarter-Final: Wasatch Funds Salt Lake City Open 2015
[1] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) bt [6] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-2 (31m)
[3] Ben Coleman (ENG) bt [7] Leandro Romiglio (ARG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-4 (32m)
[5] Farhan Zaman (PAK) bt [4] Peter Creed (WAL) 3-2: 7-11, 11-6, 15-13, 4-11, 11-4 (72m)
[2] Martin Knight (NZL) bt [8] Michael McCue (CAN) 3-0: 11-2, 11-9, 11-5 (45m)

Draw – Semi-Final
[1] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) v [3] Ben Coleman (ENG)
[5] Farhan Zaman (PAK) v [2] Martin Knight (NZL)