RESULTS: PSA Challenger 15 Savcor Finnish Open, Mikkeli, Finland
1st round:
[1] Joey Barrington (ENG) bt [Q] Leandro Romiglio (ARG) 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 (33m)
[Q] Jonathan Harford (ENG) bt [Q] Matthew Karwalski (AUS) 11-5, 11-7, 11-9 (39m)
Bradley Hindle (MLT) bt Kashif Shuja (NZL) 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8 (49m)
Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt [4] Mark Krajcsak (HUN) 11-7, 11-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5 (94m)
[3] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt Robbie Temple (ENG) 11-3 ret.
Henrik Mustonen (FIN) bt Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 (32m)
[Q] Rasmus Nielsen (DEN) bt Campbell Grayson (NZL) 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 (55m)
[2] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt Matias Tuomi (FIN) 11-6, 9-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-9 (57m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Joey Barrington (ENG) bt [Q] Jonathan Harford (ENG) 11-7, 11-9, 11-2 (46m)
Bradley Hindle (MLT) bt Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 8-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8 (111m)
[3] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt Henrik Mustonen (FIN) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 (47m)
[2] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt [Q] Rasmus Nielsen (DEN) 11-4, 12-10, 11-2 (42m)
Bradley Survives Marathon To Make Mikkeli Semis
Malta’s unseeded Bradley Hindle battled for 111 minutes to claim an unexpected place in the semi-finals of the SavcorFinnish Open, the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at the Sport Forum in Mikkeli, Finland.
Hindle came back from 2/1 down to overcome Italian Davide Bianchetti 8-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8.
The Australian-born 30-year-old will now face top seed Joey Barrington for a place in the final.
Barrington, the world No35 from England, prevailed in his second straight games win in the event, beating fellow countrymanJonathan Harford, a qualifier, 11-7, 11-9, 11-2.
Finnish interest in the event was led by Henrik Mustonen, a 20-year-old from Hollola who is ranked 64 in the world.
“The quarter was the one the home crowd had been waiting for,” said event spokesman Poku Salo. “Unfortunately it was let down by a brilliant performance from Stephen Coppinger. Mustonen was forced to make a lot of errors while Coppinger managed to make only one or two.”
Coppinger secured an 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 victory which takes the third seed from South Africa through to a semi-final clash with Egypt’s second seed Omar Abdel Aziz.
Semi-final line-up:
[1] Joey Barrington (ENG) v Bradley Hindle (MLT)
[2] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) v [3] Stephen Coppinger (RSA)