World No.83 keeps making progress
By NATHAN CLARKE
English number three seed Joshua Masters captured the second PSA World Tour title of his career after a fine 3-0 victory over Portugal’s Rui Soares in the final of the 2016 Austrian Open, PSA M5 tournament.
The World No.83 from Maidstone opened up his event with wins over Czech qualifier Daniel Mekbib and Bermuda’s Micah Franklin, before sweeping past top seed Sebastiaan Weenink in style.
Soares, meanwhile, came through an almighty five-game semi-final with Frenchman Baptiste Masotti, recovering from 2-1 down to book his place in the final.
Masters, who celebrated his 21st birthday during the tournament, came flying out of the traps and exhibited some fine control of the court as he sought to seize the early initiative against an opponent ranked 74 places behind him in the World Rankings.
He took the opener 11-7 and followed that up by doubling his advantage for the loss of five points in game two.
Soares came out fighting in the third but it was to no avail as Masters held firm to close out an 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 win to claim the title just three days after his 21st birthday.
“I’m very happy. I have had a really good year so far,” said Masters. “I played really well and it was a great tournament for me. Now I have to put my racket aside for a bit to study for some exams at University. I am not looking forward to it, but it has to be done.”
2016 PSA M5 Austrian Open, EUROPARK Salzburg, Austria.
Final:
[4] Joshua Masters (ENG) bt [6] Rui Soares (POR) 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (39m)
Semi-finals:
[6] Rui Soares (POR) bt [5] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) 11-4, 8-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6 (54m)
[4] Joshua Masters (ENG) bt [2] Sebastiaan Weenink (NED) 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7 (38m)
Quarter-finals:
[6] Rui Soares (POR) bt [Q] Rudi Rohrmuller (GER) 11-9, 6-11, 3-11 ret. (40m)
[5] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt [3] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 13-11 (46m)
[4] Joshua Masters (ENG) bt [8] Micah Franklin (BER) 11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8 (50m)
[2] Sebastiaan Weenink (NED) bt [7] Auguste Dussourd (FRA) 5-11, 11-4, 11-2, 9-11, 11-8 (59m)
1st round:
[Q] Rudi Rohrmuller (GER) bt [LL] Jami Äijänen (FIN) 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (38m)
[6] Rui Soares (POR) bt Tristan Eysele (RSA) 11-3, 12-10, 11-5 (34m)
[5] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt [WC] Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) 11-6, 11-4, 11-2 (21m)
[3] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) bt [Q] Jan Ryba (CZE) 11-7, 14-12, 11-5 (45m)
[4] Joshua Masters (ENG) bt [Q] Daniel Mekbib (CZE) 11-6, 11-3, 15-13 (46m)
[8] Micah Franklin (BER) bt [Q] Elliot Selby (ENG) 11-7, 12-14, 14-12, 11-9 (60m)
[7] Auguste Dussourd (FRA) bt Ondrej Uherka (CZE) 11-5, 13-11, 11-9 (40m)
[2] Sebastiaan Weenink (NED) bt Nick Mulvey (ENG) 11-5, 11-7, 12-10 (37m)
Qualifying finals:
Daniel Mekbib (CZE) bt Bradley Masters (ENG) 7-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-5 (43m)
Rudi Rohrmuller (GER) bt Jami Äijänen (FIN) 11-9, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7 (45m)
Jan Ryba (CZE) bt Ahmed Al Kiremli (IRQ) 11-5, 11-4, 13-11 (30m)
Elliot Selby (ENG) bt Christoph Ressel (AUT) 11-1, 11-2, 11-5 (19m)
1st qualifying round:
Daniel Mekbib (CZE) bye
Bradley Masters (ENG) bt Stephan Stocker (AUT) 11-2, 11-2, 11-5 (19m)
Jami Äijänen (FIN) bt Kevin Waldner (AUT) 11-4, 11-6, 11-2 (20m)
Rudi Rohrmuller (GER) bt Kyle Finch (ENG) 13-15, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3 (45m)
Jan Ryba (CZE) bt Michael Zanner (AUT) 11-3, 11-5, 11-1 (20m)
Ahmed Al Kiremli (IRQ) bt Lukas Rosner (AUT) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (15m)
Christoph Ressel (AUT) bt Alexander Harml (AUT) 6-11, 11-3, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9 (43m)
Elliot Selby (ENG) bye
Picture courtesy of PSA