Peruvian ace beats Ryan Cuskelly in Salt Lake City final
By Squash Mad Reporter
Peruvian prodigy Diego Elias picked up his second PSA World Tour title before reaching the age of 18 when he upset top seed Ryan Cuskelly in the final of the Squashworks Salt Lake City Open, the PSA Challenger 10 squash event at Squashworks in Salt Lake City in the USA.
the PSA World Tour – despatched the sixth, second and fourth seeds before lining up against Australian favourite Cuskelly, the World No.43 from New South Wales marking his 15th appearance in a Tour final.
Diego dug deep and battled for 85 minutes to overcome experienced left-hander Cuskelly 13-11, 12-10, 11-9 in an epic encounter.
“Those who attended the final match between Ryan and Diego were treated to one of the best matches ever played at Squashworks,” reported tournament organiser Craig Bennett.
“It may even have been better than the epic 2001 semi-final battle between Simon Parke and Alex Gough! It seems that every rally had multiple changes of momentum. The first game alone was over 40 minutes.”
PSA Challenger 10 Squashworks Salt Lake City Open, Salt Lake City, USA.
First round:
[8] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Jens Schoor (GER) 12-10, 4-11, 11-9, 12-10 (65m)
[5] Ben Coleman (ENG) bt Italo Bonatti (GUA) 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (37m)
[3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt [WC] Mark Broekman (ENG) 11-4, 11-2, 11-0 (30m)
[4] Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) bt Faraz Khan (USA) 3-11, 11-8, 11-6, 14-12 (55m)
[7] Peter Creed (WAL) bt Shahjahan Khan (PAK) 11-7, 11-9, 11-4 (55m)
Diego Elias (PER) bt [6] Greg Lobban (SCO) 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 (55m)
[2] Martin Knight (NZL) bt Jan van den Herrewegen (BEL) 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-2 (70m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt [8] Paul Coll (NZL) 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 (70m)
[5] Ben Coleman (ENG) bt [3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) 11-7, 13-11, 11-3 (60m)
[4] Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) bt [7] Peter Creed (WAL) 6-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-5, 11-7 (75m)
Diego Elias (PER) bt [2] Martin Knight (NZL) 11-1, 11-1, 10-12, 11-3 (63m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt [5] Ben Coleman (ENG) 11-9, 11-2, 11-7 (69m)
Diego Elias (PER) bt [4] Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) 11-4, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7 (53m)
Final:
Diego Elias (PER) bt [1] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 13-11, 12-10, 11-9 (85m)
Picture by MORGAN LEIGH