Raphael shows artistic talent as he brushes off Meguid in Seattle
By NATHAN CLARKE
German World No.50 Raphael Kandra celebrated his first PSA World Tour win over top seed Omar Abdel Meguid when he defeated the Egyptian 3-0 in the final of the Stratos Seattle Open, PSA Challenger 10 tournament.
Kandra, the event’s No.2 seed, reached his 16th PSA World Tour final after surviving a close five-game semi-final battle with third-seeded Indian Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu while Meguid, the world No.33, also prevailed in a marathon semi, seeing off England’s fourth seed Declan James 10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 12-14, 11-5 after 140-minutes to set up his 17th Tour final.
Ranked 17 places higher and having emerged victorious in their past two meetings, Meguid was the firm favourite to taste glory in the final, but Kandra leapt into action from the off to take the first game 11-6.
Meguid, clearly tired after the effort he put in the day before, found it difficult to build any real momentum and Kandra took full advantage of that to take the second game by the same margin.
24-year-old Kandra kept up the assault in the third and powered his way through 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 to collect his second Tour title of the year – an achievement only matched so far by Nick Matthew, the world No.3 from England who last week won his second title of the year at the PSA World Series Windy City Open in Chicago.
PSA Challenger 10 Stratos Seattle Open, Seattle, USA
1st round:
[1] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt [Q] George Parker (ENG) 3-1: 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6 (50m)
[WC] Shahjahan Khan (PAK) bt [5] Richie Fallows (ENG) 3-2: 7-11, 6-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-9 (140m)
[6] Julian Illingworth (USA) bt [Q] Ashley Davies (ENG) 3-1: 11-5, 8-11, 11-4, 12-10 (45m)
[4] Declan James (ENG) bt Rodrigo Pezzota (ARG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 17-15 (49m)
[3] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt Lewis Walters (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 13-11, 11-8 (46m)
[8] Dane Sharp (CAN) bt [Q] Anthony Graham (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 (35m)
[Q] Graeme Schnell (CAN) bt [7] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 3-1: 7-11, 11-2, 13-11, 11-9 (60m)
[2] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt James Huang (TPE) 3-2: 11-4, 4-11, 7-11, 11-6, 13-11 (70m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt [WC] Shahjahan Khan (PAK) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 (50m)
[4] Declan James (ENG) bt [6] Julian Illingworth (USA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 (47m)
[3] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt [8] Dane Sharp (CAN) 3-1: 11-13, 12-10, 11-3, 11-8 (65m)
[2] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [Q] Graeme Schnell (CAN) 3-0: 11-7, 12-10, 15-13 (54m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt [4] Declan James (ENG) 3-2: 10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 12-14, 11-5 (140m)
[2] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [3] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) 3-2: 9-11, 11-13, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9
Final:
[2] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [1] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (45m)