The crowd at the inaugural Valencia Open in Spain urged home the winner they wanted when top-ranked Spaniard Borja Golan beat Egypt’s Omar Abdel Aziz in the final of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Club Olympia in Valencia.
After reaching the final without dropping a game, the favourite from Santiago de Compostela – Spain’s highest-ranked player of all-time – maintained his unbeaten run in the climax, despatching Aziz 11-2, 11-6, 11-8 in 40 minutes.
The triumph marks 28-year-old Golan’s 23rd PSA World Tour title – a success which takes the world No36 and former world 10 up to fourth place in the list of current players’ tour title successes, behind Amr Shabana and David Palmer (each with 27 titles), but ahead of Ramy Ashour and Thierry Lincou (each with 22).
Unseeded Bradley Hindle survived the longest match in the quarter-finals of the inaugural Valencia Open to claim an unexpected place in the last four of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Maestro Serrano inValencia, Spain.
The 30-year-old from Malta fought back from 2/1 down to overcome Mark Krajcsak, the fourth seed from Hungary ranked 19 places higher, 11-7, 6-11, 7-11, 11-5, 13-11 in 85 minutes.
Hindle’s next opponent took less than half the time to earn his place in the semi-finals. Borja Golan, the top seed leading home hopes in Valencia, despatched English qualifier Olivier Pett 11-7, 11-8, 11-2 in 40 minutes.
Max Lee continued his impressive run in his first appearance in a Tour event in Spain. After ousting third seed Chris Simpson in the opening round, the unseeded 23-year-old from Hong Kong took five games to get the better of New Zealander Campbell Grayson, winning 5-11, 13-11, 11-9, 2-11, 12-10 in 65 minutes.
Lee now lines up against second seed Omar Abdel Aziz, the world No42 who survived a close second game to defeat unseeded Frenchman Gregoire Marche 11-4, 12-10, 11-7.
Semi-final line-up:
[1] Borja Golan (ESP) v Bradley Hindle (MLT)
[2] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) v Max Lee (HKG)
Max Lee of Hong Kong earned an unexpected place in the quarter-finals of the inaugural Valencia Open when he ousted third seed Chris Simpson in the opening round of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Maestro Serrano in Valencia, Spain.
In his second successive upset over the higher-ranked Englishman this year, Lee recovered from a game down to beat Simpson 9-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-5.
The unseeded 23-year-old, ranked 58 in the world, will now face Campbell Grayson after the New Zealander defeated South African qualifier Shaun le Roux 4-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-1.
Top-ranked Spaniard Borja Golan eased his way into the last eight after overcoming compatriot Alejandro Garbi Caro11-6, 11-5, 11-4. The top seed from Santiago de Compostela will face qualifier Olivier Pett for a place in the semi-finals.
Englishman Pett, ranked 87 in the world, scored a notable upset when he beat Frenchman Yann Perrin, the world No68 from Aix-en-Provence, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3.
France’s Gregoire Marche survived the longest match of the day, overcoming Dane Kristian Frost Olesen 2-11, 11-7, 11-2, 7-11, 11-1 in 80 minutes.
The 21-year-old from Aix-en-Provence will now take on second seed Omar Abdel Aziz. The Egyptian also took more than an hour to see off his first round opponent Davide Bianchetti, beating the former world No24 from Italy 11-9, 11-8, 11-13, 12-10 in 70 minutes.
Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Borja Golan (ESP) v [Q] Olivier Pett (ENG)
[4] Mark Krajcsak (HUN) v Bradley Hindle (MLT) Max Lee (HKG) v Campbell Grayson (NZL)
[2] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) v Gregoire Marche (FRA)
