Cuskelly and Coppinger in Charlottesville showdown
By GRANT WHITE in Charlottesville
Top seed Ryan Cuskelly meets reigning champion Steve Coppinger in the final of the PSA M25 Harrow Charlottesville Open.
The in-form Australian left-hander Cuskelly powered past Peru’s former world junior champion Diego Elias in straight games in 45 minutes.
South African Coppinger took just eight minutes longer to record another thee-love victory over England’s Adrian Waller in a match which featured two players who are 6ft 3in tall.
Cuskelly looked impressive as he took out number three seed and world number 34 Elias in the semi-final in a comfortable fashion, winning 11-7, 11-8, 11-5.
“Better focus today and got some good words from Rodney Martin that helped me technically so looking forward to playing Coppinger for a rematch of last year’s final,” said Cuskelly.
World number 13 Cuskelly will be hoping to improve on the result in last year’s clash, where Coppinger won in four games.
Coppinger survived tiebreaks in the first and second games before beating Waller 13-11, 12-10, 11-6.
PSA M25 Harrow Charlottesville Open 2016, McArthur Squash Center at Boar’s Head Sports Club, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
Semi-finals:
[1] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt [3] Diego Elias (PER) 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 (45m)
[2] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt [4] Adrian Waller (ENG) 13-11, 12-10, 11-6 (53m)
Final:
[1] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v [2] Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
Pictures by Kate McDonough