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30-Jun, Finals

[1] Amelia Pittock bt [2] Peta Hughes
        8/10, 9/6, 9/7, 9/2 (59m)

[7] Cameron White bt [2] Steve Finitsis
        11/6, 11/8, 11/5 (55m)

White and Pittock celebrate
SA success ...
Andrew Dent reports

Victoria’s Cameron White said winning the Partek South Australian Open squash title in Adelaide on Sunday may lead to a fulltime comeback to the professional ranks.

The 30-year-old from Geelong claimed his seventh title on the Professional Squash Association main tour when he upset second seeded Queenslander Steve Finitsis 11-6, 11-8, 11-5.

Fellow Victorian Amelia Pittock also enjoyed success over a Queensland player when she outlasted reigning Australian junior champion Peta Hughes 8-10, 9-6, 9-7, 9-2 to win the women’s title. White is currently ranked 147 in the world but reached a career high 48 when he was a fulltime member of the PSA Tour.

He stepped away from the tour at the end of 2005, only playing four major tournaments in 2006 and two so far this year. White said he would decide over the next four to six weeks whether or not to head overseas and take a coaching job that also allowed him to play the tour.

He said he felt in control of his game throughout the whole tournament, highlighted by the fact he made only eight errors in the final against Finitsis.

White now heads to Clare for next week’s Australian Open, where he will have to play in the pre-qualifying rounds.

But he said his form in Adelaide gave him an enormous amount of confidence heading into Australian squash’s most prestigious tournament.

Confidence boost for Pittock

Amelia Pittock will also take a confidence boost into the Australian Open, where she is seeded number three.

The 23-year-old from Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula claimed the third professional title of her career and her second of the year when she used superior shot making to defeat the 20-year-old Hughes 8-10, 9-6, 9-7, 9-2.

Pittock has also been weighing up her future in the sport recently, easing back on her workload after last year’s Commonwealth Games.

She and Hughes slugged it out for the first three games with the Queenslander claiming the first game and Pittock winning the next two.

The first three games took 54 minutes, but when Pittock claimed the third 9-7 Hughes was broken and Pittock raced away to win the final game 9-2 in just five minutes.

In the opening round of the Australian Open Pittock faces New Zealander Joelle King, whom she beat in the quarter-finals at this tournament.

Although the 9-1, 9-0, 9-4 scoreline indicated an easy match, Pittock said King was always a tough opponent. She is seeded to meet world number 13 Shelley Kitchen of New Zealand in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
    

 

"The last year and a half I’ve taken my foot off. We had a baby six months ago, so I’ve been doing all those things that come with that responsibility.

"Really the last couple of years I’ve been playing enough to keep my ranking steady, but not to improve it.

"It’s hard to play professionally based in Australia so I’ve been weighing it up whether to give it another go or not.

"I felt like I was doing enough to win in every match this week and was playing pretty solidly. Even when I could have been playing better I just kept plugging away."

 

"I took some time off and wasn’t training as much as I could have. But I’m loving it on the tour now and I’m really liking training.

"That last game went pretty quickly but it was a gruelling match. I really wanted to win this tournament … I’ve been training pretty hard so I’m really happy with the result."

8/10, 9/6, 9/7, 9/2 (59m)

Peta Hughes

30-Jun, Finals:

[1] Amelia Pittock bt [2] Peta Hughes      8/10, 9/6, 9/7, 9/2 (59m)

[7] Cameron White bt [2] Steve Finitsis   11/6, 11/8, 11/5 (55m)

29-Jun, Semis:
White books surprise final place ...
Andrew Dent reports

Victoria’s Cameron White booked a surprise place in the final of the Partek South Australian Open squash tournament when he beat young New South Welshman Ryan Cuskelly in the semi-finals in Adelaide on Saturday.

The 30-year-old White, who is ranked 147 in the world but has been inside the top 50, took 76 minutes to beat a determined Cuskelly.
White has won six titles on the Professional Squash Association main tour, but hasn’t enjoyed success since he won the Victorian Open in August 2004.

He only played four main tour tournaments in 2006 and this is only his second PSA Tour event this year, following his quarter-final appearance in the City of Joondalup Open in May.

White will up against second seed Steve Finitsis in the final following Finitsis’s win over local player Luke Margan.

The 24-year-old Finitsis, from Innisfail in far north Queensland, is yet to win on the PSA Tour.

He was cool and calm in his semi-final, fighting back after Margan got out to big leads in the fourth and fifth games.

The women’s semis went according to the seedings, with Amelia Pittock accounting for Donna Urquhart and Peta Hughes too good for Lisa Camilleri.

Pittock and Hughes have both been in top form during the Australian circuit, with Pittock winning the City of Perth International and Hughes earning her maiden title at the Naracoorte Open.
    

Corren aims for Seven in
South Australia ...
Andrew Dent reports

New Zealand-based South Australian Mike Corren will take on exciting newcomer Matthew Karwalski in one of a host of mouth-watering first round clashes at the Partek South Australian Open squash tournament in Adelaide on Thursday.

Corren, the top seed at the SA Open, has been in scintillating form over the past month in New Zealand, winning a host of titles on that country’s satellite circuit.

Karwalski, the 21-year-old from Raymond Terrace, just north of Newcastle, broke through for his maiden PSA title when he took the Merredin International in Western Australia in May.

Three young Queenslanders have qualified for the SA Open, the final warm-up tournament before the Australian Open in Clare next weekend.

Nathan Stevenson will take on 21-year-old New South Welshman Scott Arnold, Zac Alexander faces eighth seeded Sam Atkins from New Zealand and Aaron Fyfe has been drawn to play Ryan Cuskelly, the fifth seed who at 19 is only just out of the junior ranks himself.

In the women’s event Amelia Pittock and Peta Hughes are seeded to meet in the final, but will face tough opposition from Donna Urquhart and Lisa Camilleri.

Pittock, Hughes and Camilleri have all won tournaments over the past month and will be looking for a confidence boost ahead of the Australian Open.