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17-Apr, FINAL:
  
[3] Shahier Razik (Can) bt [4] Gavin Jones (Wal)
      11/9, 11/9, 11/6 (54m)

Razik takes Losone title
John Williams reports from Switzerland

In today's final, Shahier Razik continued his great form of the previous three days defeating Gavin Jones in straight games 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 in 54 mins.

It completed a domination through all his matches by winning without dropping a set.

Jones fought hard to stay with him but was unable to break the Canadian's iron defense where using his medium paced game, he cleverly manouevred his opponent around the four corners of the court, fully confident that his physical attributes would prevail once again...

We've just finished watching the televsion coverage on the local channel here(TSI 2) which was a great way to end a very enjoyable week here in Ticino, Switzerland...

11/8, 11/8, 11/3 (32m)

Shahier Razik

Shahier Razik

11/9, 11/9, 11/6 (54m)
 

10/12, 12/10, 12/10, 8/11, 11/6

Ritwik Bhattacharya

Qualifying

Finals, Wed 13th:
Morten Sorensen (Den) bt Tom Richards (Eng)   10/12, 6/11, 11/8, 11/8, 11/7 (51m)
Jesse Engelbrecht (Zim) bt Rodolphe Bigot (Fra) 11/7, 9/11, 11/7, 11/7 
Ryan Thompson (Nam) bt  Nicholas Muller (Sui)  11/7, 11/5, 15/13 (33m)
Michael Fetini (Ned) bt Rob Sutherland (Wal)      11/2, 11/6, 11/4 (27m)

First Round, Tue 12th:
Tom Richards (Eng) bt Benjamin Fischer (Sui)  11/4, 11/8, 11/3 (25m)
Nicholas Muller bt Friedrich Steel                     11/7, 11/6, 9/11, 16/14 (37m)
Michael Fiteni (Ned) bt Pascal Bruhin                11/3, 11/6, 11/4 (21m)
Rodolphe Bigot (Fra) bt Rik Smet (Bel)             5/11, 11/6, 5/11, 11/5, 11/8 (69m) 

16-Apr, Semis:
[3] Shahier Razik (Can) bt Ramy Ashour (Egy)
      11/8, 11/8, 11/3
[4] Gavin Jones (Wal) bt [7] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind)
     10/12, 12/10, 12/10, 8/11, 11/6

"Well have reached Losone. It's a really nice quaint pretty town which feels like it's in the middle of nowhere. Got here by train 3hrs to a town ten mins away called Locarno. "The hotel is nice and the squash club is down below the hotel so it's perfect. It was snowing up in the hills which we could see on the train journey down, so good news for the skiers I guess. "Courts are nice ... am enjoying this place already ..." Ritwik Bhattacharya

Giant-killers lose out
in Losone semis ...
John Williams reports from Losone

After taking out the top seeds in the quarter-finals, giant-killers Ramy Ashour and Ritwik Bhattacharya both fell at the semi-final stage in Switzerland. World junior champion Ashour was unable to raisee his game aganinst Canada's third seeded Shahier Razik, going down in straight games. Bhattacharya came closer to continuing his run, but lost out in five games to fourth seeded Welshman Gavin Jones.

Razik glided around the court as he does so well, prodding and pushing Ramy's attacks to the front with either deft deception past him or delicate counter dropping to the front corners, causing the PSA apprentice to lose his patience and try to force the issue with very ambitious strokeplay..

Two days in a row that sort of squash that was bound to come undone, especially against someone of the calibre and experience of Razik....

In the second semi it was a much tighter tussle with the match in the balance in the first three games, Jones being able to stay a bit steadier on the big points to take a 2-1 lead.

At 6-8 in the fourth, Jones accidentally caught Bhattarcharya with his follow through on the underside of Ritwik's lip which produced quite a nasty cut.. After a break of approx. 45 mins, Ritwik showed quite a lot of character in deciding to play on and snatched the fourth with some quickfire shots.

In the fifth, Jones was able to steady himself though and earn his place in the final after a 'long Saturday evening at the office'...

The sportsmanship shown between both players regarding the incident was something that the spectators here in Tessin were very impressed with and certainly did no damage towards their impression of the professionalism of the PSA Tour and its players.

Razik will be competing in his 14th PSA final, Jones in his second.

15-Apr-05, Quarters:
Top Two Tumble in Losone

Both top seeds fell at the quarter-final stage in the Losone Open, as Ramy Ashour and Ritwik Bhattacharya created significant upsets in the picturesque Swiss town.

Ashour, the world junior champion from Egypt, toppled Italy's top seed Davide Bianchetti in a five-game thriller.

"A champion in the making" is how former PSA star John Williams described Ashour after tonight's performance. After saving a match ball in the fourth Ashour "then blew him away with scintillating nick shots in the fifth."

The event also lost its second seed, as Spaniard Borja Golan lost out, also in five games, to India's seventh seed Ritwik Bhattacharya - "A very solid performance for him and a good scalp."

Welshman Gavin Jones, the fourth seed, was too controlled and experienced for the younger Indian, Saura Ghosal, dominating most of the rallies, and third seeded Canadian Shahier Razik absorbed a lot of pressure in the first two against Mexican Eric Galvez, who was too keen to finish rallies on the big points in those games and was broken by the third.

13-Apr-05:
Winning debut for Müller
In the first round of qualifying 15 year old Swiss Nicholas Müller won his first ever PSA match to reach the qualifying finals, but failed to get past Namibia's Ryan Thompson in the final round.  Jesse Engelbrecht, Morten Sorenson and Michael Fetini claimed the other qualifying slots.
 

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