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24-May, Final:
Richards claims Vitis title
John Williams reports
The final of the Seegarten VITIS Open saw Tom Richards
collect his third PSA Tour title today in Zürich. He
defeated Jorge Ferreira convincingly in straight games as
Ferreira seemed to feel the effects of his semi-final
Marathon from the day before.
Ferreira had a brief reprise in the third game as he led
most of the way thru, but it was Richards who was able to
re-assert his authority around the middle of the court,
playing the 'end game' to perfection to capture the
Seegarten title.
Richards is also now the proud owner of an exclusive
'George J. Von Burg' watch for winning the tournament
valued at $2,300USD.
As organiser I'd like to thank all the Sponsors involved for
making the event possible - in particular the Main Sponsor
Mr. Peter Günter - the owner of the
Seegarten
Restaurant in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. Also many thanks
to my Tournament Assistant - Mr. Daniel Metzger - the
General Manager of the 'Westend
Restauarnt Bar & Lounge' in Zürich.
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photo by by Helen Ree from Estonia |
 Seegarten Vitis
Open 2009
19-24 May, Zurich, Switzerland, $10k |
Round One
21 May |
Quarters
22 May |
Semis
23 May |
Final
24 May |
[1] Tom Richards (Eng)
12-10, 11-6, 7-11, 13-15, 11-9
[Q] Abdullah Al Mezayen (Kuw) |
[1] Tom Richards
11-8, 11-4, 11-5
[Q] Piedro Schweertman |
[1] Tom Richards
4-11, 11-4, 6-1 rtd
[4] Mark Krajcsak |
[1] Tom Richards
11-4, 11-1,
12-10
[7] Jorge Ferreira |
[5] Julien Balbo (Fra)
11-8, 11-9 rtd
[Q] Piedro Schweertman (Ned) |
[4] Mark Krajcsak (Hun)
11-9, 11-8, 11-7
[Q] Henrik Mustonen (Fin) |
[4] Mark Krajcsak
11/4, 11/9, 11/4
[6] Jan Koukal |
[6] Jan Koukal (Cze)
11-7, 13-11, 13-11
Dylan Bennett (Ned) |
Nicolas Mueller (Sui)
11-9, 12-10, 11-9
[8] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) |
Nicolas Mueller
9-11, 9-11, 12-10,
11-3, 11-6
[3] Chris Ryder |
Nicolas Mueller
12-10, 4-11, 14-12, 3-11, 17-15
[7] Jorge Ferreira |
Rob Sutherland (Wal)
9-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-0, 11-1
[3] Chris Ryder (Eng) |
[Q] Siddarth Suchde (Ind)
14-12, 11-4, 11-4
[7] Jorge Ferreira (Mex) |
[7] Jorge Ferreira
13/11, 11/6 11/7
Bradley Hindle |
Bradley Hindle (Aus)
8-11, 11-0, 16-14, 14-12
[2] Eric Galvez (Mex) |
20-May,
Qualifying Finals:
Abdullah Almezayen bt Reiko
Peter
11/4, 11/4, 11/6
Piedro Schweertman bt Aqeel Rehman
11/13, 7/11, 11/8, 11/8, 11/3
Henrik Mustonen bt Lewis Walters
11/7, 11/3, 11/7
Siddarth Suchde bt Jethro Binns
13/11, 11/9, 8/11, 12/10
19-May,
Qualifying Round One:
Aqeel Rehmann bt Patrick
Miescher
11/6, 11/4, 11/4
Henrik Mustonen bt Lukas Burkhard
11/4, 11/7, 11/4
Lewis Walters bt Beni Fischer
10/12, 11/9, 11/6, 11/7
Jethro Binns bt Neil Cordell
3/11, 11/7, 11/7, 2/11, 11/8
Siddath Suchde bt Jonas Daehler
11/7, 11/4, 11/4
Piedro Schweertman bt David Heath
7/11 11/5, 1/11, 11/4, 11/4
Reiko Peter bt Joan Lezaud
11/6, 13/11, 17/15
Abdullah Almezayen
bye
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23-May, Semis:
Ferreira edges out Müller
John Williams reports
Today's semi finals in Zürich produced an absolute thriller
in the first match.
Home crowd favourite Nicolas Müller of Switzerland was once again
spurred on by a parochial Swiss crowd, but was edged out 17-15 in
the fifth by Mexican Jorge Ferreira. Both players displayed
tremendous skills and mental endeavour from start to finish, but it
was to be the Mexican who prevailed in a high quality affair
considering their current Rankings
Semi final number two unfortunately turned out to be an
injury-affected match as Mark Krajcsak was forced to retire in the
third game against No.1 seed, Tom Richards of England. At one-game
all the match was well poised but Krajcsak was clearly affected from
the beginning of the third game by his injury. |
22-May, Quarters:
Müller makes Zurich semis
John Williams reports
 In
today's Quarter finals of the Seegarten VITIS Open the
highlight was no doubt the performance of the 'Home-crowd'
favourite, Nicolas Müller of Switzerland.
After going down two games to love & 9-10 Match-ball in the
third to Chris Ryder of England, Nicolas fought back to take
the last three games and ride the wave of support that
surged from the local crowd during these games.
The win from the Swiss Star has also brought a positive
response from the National Television Channel 'SF', who are
very likely to come to VITIS SportsCenter to film footage of
tomorrow's Semi-finals which will be replayed on Monday or
Tuesday in the coming week.
This is naturally a bonus for Squash in Switzerland & in
general on tomorrow's World Squash Day.
In the other Quarter Finals all the favourites won their
matches with relatively clear 3-0 scorelines. In the top
half it will be the No.1 & 4 seeds Tom Richards
versus Mark Krajcsak & Müller will play the No.7 seed
Jorge Ferreira of Mexico.
21-May, Round
One:
Seeds falter in Zurich
John Williams reports
In the first round of the Seegarten VITIS Open five of the
seeds secured safe passage into tomorrow's Quarter Finals,
but there were three significant upsets.
Upset of the day went to Qualifier Piedro Schweertman
of Holland though, as he continued his good run with a
little good fortune perhaps. Taking nothing away from the
Dutchmen, Balbo seem to struggle with a nagging back injury
which forced him to retire from the match at 2-0 down.
Brad Hindle also scored an upset win over No.2 Eric
Galvez with an impressive performance which showed further
improvement could be in store from this Australian.
The Swiss hopes stay alive as Nicolas Müller scored a
resounding 3-0 win over seasoned PSA campaigner Ritwik
Battarcharya of India. Müller will now meet No.3 seed &
World No.39 Chris Ryder of England who recovered from a 2
games to love deficit to overrun the recently improved
Welshman Ron Sutherland.
Match of the day was between No.1 seed Tom Richards &
Kuwaiti Qualifier Abdullah Almezayen. Almezayen displayed
his talented array of deft touches & explosive retrieving,
delighting the crowd, but it was the steadiness of the more
experienced Richards which got him over the line at the end
of the fifth. |
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19-May, Qualifying Round
One:
Locals bow out in Zurich
John Williams reports
The swiss local boys went down to further more experienced and
higher seeded opponents as expected, only Reiko Peter causing
an upset, beating Joan Lezaud in a tough fight on the Vitis
glass court.
David Heath gave Piedro Schweertman a hard time in the
match of the day showing high speed top quality squash, pushing the
under-ranked Dutchman to the limits. But in the end 37year old Heath
had to give way to the fulltime professional tour player Schweertman.
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