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22-Sep, Finals, Arthur Curran reports
Women's Final:
[Q] Yathreb Adel (Egy) 3-0 Victoria Lust (Eng)
11/8, 11/4, 15/13
(38m)
Yathreb qualifies for her biggest title
 The
women’s Final was a really superb match played in a very
friendly but competitive manner (most of the time anyway) in
which Yathreb had the upper hand most of the time.
The young Egyptian took a 9/4 lead in the first after they both
had spent time weighing each other up, then despite a short
fightback by Victoria, Yathreb took the game 11/8.
Vicky fought back bravely and superbly in the second game taking
a 5/1 then a 7/3 lead, then got to 9/7 but Yathreb started a
brave comeback to get to match ball at 10/9, Vicky came back to
get her game ball at 11/10, 12/11, and 13/12, but unfortunately
she was unable to stop Yathreb eventually finishing the game at
15/13, and the match at three games to nil, to end what had been
a really enjoyable match to watch.
The win marks Yathreb's third WSA final in a row, and her
fourth title out of 22 events played.
"Happy to win my 2nd WSA title this year here in mexico!"
tweeted Yathreb. "Had a great tournament. Now its time to get
ready for the long flight to England."
They then took time out to make the presentation to the women’s
finalists, about which I will speak later, before we came to the
last match of the tournament.
Men’s Final:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-2 [2] Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy)
7/11, 11/8, 3/11, 11/6,
11/6 (78m)
Gaultier retains the title
 After
that enjoyable women’s match we came to the men’s final, which
turned out to be absolutely fantastic. Mohamed started off like
an express train to take a 5/2 lead, then 8/5 and despite Greg
fighting hard for a couple more points Mohamed took the game
11/7.
This match was already living up to its expectations and more,
and unfortunately it is not in my capabilities to describe some
of the magical shots from both players even at this early stage,
and there were lots and lots more to come.
The second game went 5/3 to Mohamed, then 6/6, then 9/7 to Greg
before he took the game 11/8. One game each. Whether Greg was
tiring or Mohamed was just on fire, they started a mutual
friendship pact but Mohamed still whizzed through the points to
take the third comfortably (pointswise) 11/3.
After a very level start by both players in the fourth to get to
5/5, Greg found some more energy from somewhere to take the game
11/6, and then did exactly the same in the final game at 11/6 to
eventually take the title of Mexican Open Champion 2013 after 78
minutes of scintillating squash, which the very large crowd
appreciated very loudly.
"Wasn't to be," tweeted Mohamed. "Lost in tough 5 games to
Gaultier today ... we both gave it all we had!! Overall good
start for the season!!!"
For Gaultier the win is a 24th PSA title, coming hot on the
heels of his recent World Games and European Individual
triumphs.
A little word about Toluca, just
finished the Final.
A mad mad match, Mohamed was leading 1-0 then up again 2-1. I
really had to dig in very deep to come back and take the match.
We both played at a very high intensity, and in a good spirit.
It's definitely one of my best matches, played in difficult
conditions, playing at 2,700m high....
I would like to thank the organisation, the partners of the
event, my sponsors, my coaches and my family.
And now, off to San Francisco...
also in French on the Blog
Then came the presentations to the men’s finalists, at which
point I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the
organisers and helpers who with their enthusiasm, assistance and
hospitality made this tournament once again a very very
enjoyable occasion for me.
Much more than I could remember and name, but special mentions
to Bibi, the Press Officer, and her assistants Ingrid and
Louisa, Miriam and her daughter Stephanie who looked after us
all at the hotel and made sure transport was always available
for all the players, and a very special mention to Guillaume and
his son Bernado for ensuring that I got back to hotel every
night and most definitely above and beyond taking the time at
four o’clock one morning to go and recover my misplaced bag with
my computer in.
It was a very special week for me, meeting up with lots of old
friends.
Goodbye from Mexico.
Presentation Postscript:
I feel that I must mention that I was very disappointed at
the way both presentations were staged - hopefully in the event
that it can be done more efficiently in the future.
As the presentations were about to be made, which for the first
one I had no idea it was coming because unfortunately I cannot
speak Spanish, the court was virtually invaded by everybody and
their neighbours, as well as some children, and it was
impossible to either move or see the actual presentation being
made, it took me back to the times when we saw regular pitch
invasions at football matches, so there are no pictures of these
in my collection.
I feel the organisers should take special notice of this and
organise the presentations in a much more orderly manner in the
future, which I am sure there will be for this tournament.
However, ending on a pleasing note, special thanks to both the
winners for allowing time eventually to let me take a private
picture of each of them with their trophies.
Racketball Final:
Paola Logoroa 3-0 Cristina Longoria 11/1, 11/3, 11/7 |
Racketball Presentations
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