Rosner & Wee Wern take
Pioneer Open titles
There were major upsets in
the Pioneer Junior Open when Germany's tenth seed Simon
Rosner claimed the men's U19 title and Malaysia's Low Wee
Wern, the 16th
seed, secured the women's U19 crown in the established European
Squash Federation Junior Circuit event in Cologne, Germany
(although quite how Rosner, in particular, came to be seeded tenth
is something of a mystery!).
Rosner, the 18-year-old
European Junior Champion from Wurzburg, made his breakthrough
in the quarter-finals when he despatched top-seeded Dane Kristian
Frost Olesen 9-2, 9-5, 9-3. After defeating England's Lewis
Walters, the fifth seed, in the semi-finals, Rosner went on to
crush sixth seed Bart Ravelli, from the Netherlands, 9-0,
9-4, 9-1 in the final.
The victory will boost
Rosner's confidence for next week's Prince
World Junior Championship
in New Zealand, where he is the fourth seed.
The
other U19 event saw the collapse of reigning women's European Junior
champion Camille Serme, the top seed and runner-up in Cologne
last year. The 17-year-old from France was unable to capitalise on
a two-game lead against Low Wee Wern, who went on to win 7-9, 1-9,
9-7, 9-6, 9-6 to reach a surprise quarter-final.
Low, a 15-year-old from
Penang who became the Asian Junior (U19) Champion last month,
was taken to four games by two English opponents – Deon Saffery
and Emma Chorley – in the next two rounds before
triumphing 9-3 9-4 9-6 in the final against Hong Kong's unseeded
Annie Au.
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Boys U19 Quarter-finals:
[10] Simon Rosner (GER) bt [1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) 9-2, 9-5,
9-3; [5] Lewis Walters (ENG) bt [4] Edward Charlton (ENG) 9-5, 9-0,
9-4;
[6] Bart Ravelli (NED) bt [3] Karim Dabaah (ENG) 6-9, 9-1, 9-8, 9-4;
[11] Maxime Moriamez (FRA) bt [2] Petr Martin (CZE) 9-6, 4-9, 9-0,
2-9, 9-4
Semi-finals:
[10] Simon Rosner (GER) bt [5] Lewis Walters (ENG) 9-0, 9-4, 9-7; [6]
Bart Ravelli (NED) bt [11] Maxime Moriamez (FRA) 9-5, 9-4, 10-9
Final:
[10] Simon Rosner (GER) bt
[6] Bart Ravelli (NED) 9-0, 9-4, 9-1
Girls U19 Quarter-finals:
[16] Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt [8] Deon Saffery (ENG) 7-9, 9-3, 9-2, 9-1;
[5] Emma Chorley (ENG) bt [4] Pamela Hathway (GER) 10-8, 9-2, 10-9;
Annie Au (HKG) bt [6] Neha Kumar (CAN) 9-2, 9-3, 9-0; [7] Nour Mohsen
(EGY) bt [2] Lucie Fialova (CZE) 9-7, 7-9, 9-6, 9-3
Semi-finals:
[16] Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt [5] Emma Chorley (ENG) 9-6, 0-9, 10-8, 9-2;
Annie Au (HKG) bt [7] Nour Mohsen (EGY) 2-9, 9-5, 9-3, 9-0
Final:
[16] Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt
Annie Au (HKG) 9-3, 9-4, 9-6
Low Wee Wern:
A player with a future
Malcolm Willstrop is impressed ... |