Anjema Over Mosaad To Win Stanford NetSuite Open
In Epic 100 Minute Battle
from DailySquashReport.com
October 11, 2011 - World #12 Laurens Jan Anjema of the Netherlands came back from 2-love down last night against 13th-ranked Omar Mosaad of Egypt to capture the $35,000 PSA NetSuite Open, 14-12 in the fifth, much to the delight of the packed gallery at Stanford University’s Arillaga Sports Center.
The final tally was 7-11,7-11,11-8, 11-5,14-12.
The match lasted 100 minutes, a rarity in the era of point-a-rally scoring to 11, where matches often don’t hit the half-hour mark.
In the first round of this event, for example, Alister Walker beat the USA’s Julian Illingworth in 29 minutes, and Anjema handled Mexico’s Eric Galvez in 31.
Mosaad had gone 82 minutes in Sunday’s semi to put away top seed Daryl Selby 11-4 in the fifth.
The victory caps a nice September-October run for the 28-year-old Anjema, who reached the finals of the Colombian Open and then the quarters of last week’s US Open where he lost 15-13 in the fourth to eventual champion Amr Shabana.
Howard Harding Filed This Report:
The longest match of the championship brought the inaugural NetSuite Open to a close when Laurens Jan Anjema held off Egyptian challenger Omar Mosaad in a tie-break decider to win the PSA World Tour International 35 squash title at the Arillaga Center for Sports & Recreation at Stanford University in California, USA.
"Omar came out of the blocks fast," said Stanford University Squash Coach Richard Elliott. "He was very aggressive and jumping on any of LJ's loose shots."
The third-seeded 23-year-old from Cairo soon opened up a two-game lead against Dutchman Anjema, the world No12 ranked just a single place higher.
The third game was tight, level up to four-all before the rallies began to lengthen as Anjema seemed to be working the tall Egyptian with his boasts.
The six-time Dutch champion pulled away to reduce the deficit, then drew level after the fourth following a game characterised by errors from Mosaad.
"The fifth was nip and tuck all the way through - with tons of lets," continued Elliott. "The scores were level up to three-all, then Omar pulled away with some typical trademark nicks and got to an 8-5 and 9-6 lead."
But Anjema battled back to earn his first match-ball at 10-9. Mosaad saved this and proceeded to earn two further match-balls of his own - at 11-10 and 12-11.
And the drama continued as Anjema again levelled the match before gaining his second championship-ball which - after numerous long rallies that ended in lets - he finally won a stroke after 100 minutes!
The 7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 14-12 triumph gives Anjema the 11th PSA World Tour title of his career - and his fourth in the USA.
RESULTS: PSA International 35 NetSuite Open, Stanford, California, USA
Final:
[2] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt [3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 14-12 (100m)
And the finalists with the great Mark Talbott (left).
Back To Main
