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Salzburg Open
2006
Austria, 09-12 Mar, $3k |
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Two in a week for Aziz
The last day of the Salzburg Open saw the final on the
programme between Omar Abdel Aziz from Egypt and
surprising qualifier Jonny Harford from England.
It was the first final appearance for Harford and he seemed
very nervous at the start of the match, producing a lot of
errors. By contrast Aziz played a high pace and attacking
squash and just overpowered his opponent to win the opening
game easily 11/3 after just 6 minutes.
In the second game Harford again hit the tin too often,
giving Aziz a quick lead of 7/2, but the Englishman came
back into the game by extending rallies and starting to move
much better. Nevertheless he was not able to win the close
the gap as Aziz went two games ahead.
The third game started as expected, with Harford now fully
challenging the Egyptian. At 7/6 Harford took the lead for
the first time in the match, and even reached 10/9 game
ball. Aziz stayed cool, playing patient but aggressive
squash to force a tie-break and after 39 minutes won the
game 12/10 to capture the title.
Aziz celebrated his win with a loud shout while Harford
wasn't happy not to show all his abilities, but he still put
in a very good performance during the whole tournament.
Congratulations to both Omar and Jonny - well done!
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11-Mar, Semi-Finals:
[Q] Jonny Harford (Eng) bt Aqeel Rehman (Aut)
8/11, 11/5, 11/8, 11/8 (57m)
[4] Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) bt Andre Haschker
(Ger) 11/13,
11/7, 11/8, 11/8 (67m) |
Harford qualifies
for Salzburg final
Aqeel Rehman reports from Austria
England's Jonny Harford beat the tournament director to
deny Austrian fans the prospect of a home finalist, and will
meet Egypt's Omar Abdel Aziz who will be bidding for his
second title within a week ...
First on court was local favourite Aqeel Rehman and English
qualifier Jonathan Harford. Harford started well in the
opening game, racing to a 5/1 lead before Rehman found
himself better in the game, took an 8/6 lead and finally won
the first 11/8. Rehman then looked a bit weak in his
concentration with Harford playing a better game to outplay
the young Austrian and safely won the second 11/5.
Both players played at a high pace and good quality squash
and in the third game it was Aqeel who couldn't take
advantage of a 5/2 lead with Harford slowly coming closer,
playing very strong at the front and making his opponent
often run in the wrong direction while Rehman was just too
impatient as he lost the game 11/8.
In the fourth Harford again raced to a 5/0 lead when Rehman
made too many errors. The Englishman seemed to become
tired after some really long and
hard rallies, but had enough to reach match-ball. Rehman
fought until the end and was able to save 4 matchballs at
4/10 before hitting the tin.
The second semifinal was between Germany's André Hascher and
Omar Abdel Aziz from Egypt, the only seeded players left in
the tournament. The first game
was a very close encounter with Haschker going 8/10 down
before forcing a tie-break which he was able to win.
The second game started as close as the first, both players
running a lot but at 6-all it was Aziz who took control and
finished the game 11/7. Aziz started very strong in the
third game, playing some beautiful shots and showed all his
abilities, Haschker working hard to come closer but Aziz
stayed cool and won the game 11/8.
The german had to take a short break due to a bleeding knee,
but as the fourth game resumed Aziz again
took a safe lead of 9/4. Haschker tried his best to fight
back, but at 8/10 the egyptian used his second matchball fo
finish the match after 67 min.
He now sees himself in his second PSA final within a week,
and it will be an interesting final with two different
styles of players ...
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Badr Abdel Aziz
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Aqeel
Makes Salzburg Semis
Aqeel Rehman reports from Austria
The upsets continued in the quarter-finals in
Salzburg as local favourite and tournament promoter Aqeel
Rehman followed up his win over top seed Sam Miller to
reach the semis, while Germany's Andre Haschker
dumped second seed Luco Mastrostefano ...
The first quarter-final was young local favourite Aqeel
Rehman against his German opponent, fifth seeded
Friedrich Scheel.
Rehman would continue his good run and caused a second upset
of the day. In a high paced match the young Austrian took
control of the match from the start and didn't offer his
opponent many chances.
After winning the first game 11/7 the second game was quite
close, but Rehman was able to win it to take a 2-0 lead. In
the third game Scheel found a good start. He raced to a 5/2
but Rehman regained his concentration and after 33 minutes
finished the match on his second match ball at 11/8.
The second quarterfinal was between the two qualifiers,
Jonathan Harford from England and Michael Fiteni
from Malta.
Fiteni showed all his cleverness while Harford was reaching
for nearly every ball - it couln't be much closer: Fiteni
won the first game 12/10, lost the second 11/13 before
winning the third 13/11.
Fiteni then looked
to become more and more tired and Harford played a clever
game to win the fourth 11/5. The fifth was a nightmare for
Fiteni - after a 4/2 lead he then got cramps and had to
retire at 5/8 after a total match time of 78 minutes.
Meanwhile Chris Ryder and Omar Abdel Aziz had
a second round déjà vu from the last week's Swiss open.
Again ryder decided the first two games for him 11/6 and
11/7 when he was controlling his opponent.
But suddenly Aziz worked Ryder more and more. Both were
fighting very hard but Aziz took the next two games 11/8 and
11/6. When Ryder was looking tired in the fifth game it was
Aziz again who had the better finish. Finally Aziz won the
decider 11/5 after 62 minutes.
Last match was André Haschker from Germany against
Luca Mastrostefano from Italy. Haschker continued his
good performance from the first round, never giving Luca any
chances and outplayed him in 35 minutes, 11/4, 11/6, 11/4. |
DRAW &
RESULTS
Aqeel Rehman
A lot of rackets were
broken today ... some in anger
Andre Haschker
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Big Upsets in First Round ...
Aqeel Rehman reports from Austria
Today the Salzburg Open went on with the first round of the
main draw, and the spectators at the little squash and
tennisclub (4 squash courts+7 tenniscourts) saw some really
good matches.
The first match was between the two Englishmen Jonathan
Harford and Robbie Temple. Harford played a solid game.
and outplayed his opponent who looked a bit frustrated after
losing a close first game. Harford won 11/8, 11/5, 11/9 in
33 min.
Meanwhile there was an all-german match between 6th seeded
André Hascker and Dennis Drenjovski. Haschker seems
to be in good shape, and after a hard first
game which Hascher won 12/10, he then had not many troubles
with his opponent. He won the next two games 11/4 and 11/8,
total match time 45 min.
Next matches were interesting for the spectators: Andreas
Fuchs, number one from Austria, played against Michael
Fiteni from Malta. Fuchs had some trouble with the
tricky game of Fiteni, but after losing the first game 8/11
Andreas could adapt to Michael's game and won the second
game 11/8. There were many arguments between the referee and
Fiteni and even some of the spectators!!!!
Finally Fiteni would cause a major upset after taking out
the third seed in a five game thriller ... 11/8, 8/11, 11/7,
6/11, 11/6 75min
At the same time, Jakob Dirnberger, one of the local heroes
was trying his best against German Friedrich Scheel.
Jakob would surprise the German by winning the
first game safely 11/4, but then Scheel found his game and
the match became really close. Both players fought very
hard, with Scheel having the better and he won 4/11, 11/7,
11/8 , 11/9 in 55min.
After this match Aqeel Rehman the next local hero and
promoter/organiser, had to go on court against the number
one seed of the tournament, Sam Miller from
england. Rehman didn't show any respect, while Miller looked
to be a bit nervous. They played at a high pace and good
quality squash, Rehman won the first two games 11/7 and
11/8. Then miller played much better in the next games,
making less errors and had control of the Austrian. Miller
won games 3 and 4 with a score of 11/8 and 11/6. The fifth
game was a real thriller. Rehman would race to a quick 7/1
lead but Miller didn't give up. He was able to come closer
but after some really long rallies Rehman would take his
first match ball at 10/8 with a backhand volly cross
courtnick after 73min, score 11/7, 11/8, 8/11, 6/11, 11/8.
Another Englishman would reach the second round: Chris
Ryder the 7th seed had a weak start against Rik Smet
from Belgium, losing the opening game 9/11. But then Ryder
took control over the young Smet, winning the next two games
to take the match 11/6, 11/3, 11/2.
Luca Mastrostefano could be happy with his
performance. The number two seeded star from Italy didn't
give Thomas Phipps a chance and outplayed the the young
Englishman 11/5, 11/7, 12/10.
England's Philip Nightingale couldn't cause an upset against
number 4 seeded player Omar Abdel Aziz from Egypt.
Nightingale would challenge Aziz in the first two games,
losing them closely 10/12 and 11/13, but the third game Aziz
won easily with a score of 11/5, total match
time was 45min.
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Photos from
Salzburg.info
Jakob Dirnberger & Aqeel Rehmen |
Salzburg Open
2006
Austria, 09-12 Mar, $3k |
Round One
Mar 10 |
Quarters
Mar 10 |
Semis
Mar 11 |
Final
Mar 12 |
[1] Sam
Miller (Eng)
11/7, 11/8, 8/11, 6/11, 11/8 (73m)
Aqeel Rehman (Aut) |
Aqeel Rehman
11/7, 11/9, 11/8 (33m)
Friedrich Scheel |
Aqeel Rehman
11/8, 5/11, 11/8, 11/8 (57m)
Jonny Harford |
Jonny Harford
11/3, 11/8, 12/10 (39m)
Omar Abdel Aziz |
[5]
Friedrich Scheel (Ger)
4/11, 11/7, 11/8 , 11/9 in 55m
Jakob Dirnberger (Aut) |
[3]
Andreas Fuchs (Aut)
11/8, 8/11, 11/7, 6/11, 11/6 (75m)
[Q] Michael Fetini (Mlt) |
Michael Fetini
10/12, 13/11, 11/13, 11/5, 8/5 rtd
Jonny Harford |
[8] Robbie
Temple (Eng)
11/8, 11/5, 11/9 in 33 min
[Q] Jonny Harford (Eng) |
Rik Smet (Bel)
11/6, 11/3, 11/2
[7] Chris Ryder (Eng) |
Chris Ryder
6/11, 7/11, 11/8, 11/6, 11/5 (62m)
Omar Abdel Aziz |
Omar Abdel Aziz
11/13, 11/7, 11/8, 11/8 (67m)
Andre Haschker |
[Q] Philip
Nightingale (Eng)
12/10, 13/11, 11/5 (45m)
[4] Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) |
Dennis Drenjovski (Ger)
12/10, 11/4, 11/8 (45m)
[6] Andre Haschker (Ger) |
Andre Haschker
11/4, 11/6, 11/4 (35m)
Luca Mastrostefano |
[Q] Thomas
Phipps (Eng)
11/5, 11/7, 12/10
[2] Luca Mastrostefano (Ita) |
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Qualifying:
Jonny Harford (Eng) bt Shaun le Roux (Eng)
11/8, 3/11, 11/9, 7/11, 11/7
Philip Nightingale (Eng) bt Jairo Navarro (Col) 11/7,
11/6, 8/11, 11/6
Michael Fetini (Mlt) bt Armin Schmelz (Aut)
11/2, 11/5, 11/6
Thomas Phipps (Eng) v Lukas Ganur (Aut)
11/2, 11/1, 11/3
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Under way in Salzburg
Aqeel Rehman reports from Austria
The Salzburg Open 2006 today started with the qualification
event, with just 8 qualifiers competing due to many
withdrawals.
The first match was Michael Fetini from Malta against
local player Armin Schmelz. Fetini didn't have a lot
of problems with his opponent after winning 11/2, 11/5,
11/6, he now meets number 3 seeded Andreas Fuchs from
Austria
Another comfortable win for Thomas Phipps from
England. He won in a short match against local qualifier
Lukas Gnauer 11/2, 11/1, 11/3. Phipps now meets number 2
seeded Luca Mastrostefano from Italy
The third match was a bit closes: the tall Philip
Nightingale had a good start, taking the first two games
against the Colombian Jairo Navarro 11/7 and 11/6. After
losing the third 8/11, the Englishman decided the match with
an 11/6 win in the fourth game. Nightingale now plays
against Omar Abdel Aziz from Egypt, winner of last week's
Swiss Open.
The last qualifying match was between Shaun le Roux and
Jonathan Harford, both from England. It was a very close
match from the beginning, good quality squash, with Harford
having the better end on his own. He could celebrate a 3/2
victory after a hard 80min fight, the match score was 11/8,
3/11, 11/9, 7/11, 11/7. Harford now meets number 8 seeded
player Robbie Temple from
England.
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Photos from
Salzburg.info |
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