Grayson Fights Back to Beat Lobban in Chicago Open Final by Sean Reuthe October 24, 2016
- New Zealand’s Campbell Grayson battled back from two games down to
defeat Scotland’s Greg Lobban in the final of the Life Time Chicago
Open, PSA M15 tournament to claim his 11th PSA World Tour crown.
Grayson, the World No.42, was appearing at this tournament for the
first time since he lost out to World No.15 Ryan Cuskelly in the final
two years ago, and followed up a comfortable opening round victory over
Argentina’s Leandro Romiglio with consecutive five-game epics against
Finland’s Henrik Mustonen and Germany’s Raphael Kandra to reach the
final.
Meanwhile, Lobban’s path to the final was more straightforward as he
dispatched Belgian qualifier Jan van den Herrewegen, Canadian Andrew
Schnell and Mexico’s Arturo Salazar, dropping just two games in the
process.
As such, Lobban was the sharper of the two competitors at the beginning
of the final and raced into a two-game lead, before a knee injury at
9-9 in the third after an awkward landing meant that the World No.38
needed a short break.
That injury proved to be a huge turning point in the encounter as
Grayson went on to win the third game, and he maintained his composure
against a struggling Lobban in the final two games to record a 5-11,
6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4 victory to win his second PSA World Tour title
of the year.
