Cuskelly Upsets Gawad to Lift Bluenose Classic Title by Sean Reuthe October 26, 2015
- Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly captured his biggest ever PSA World Tour
title after scalping top seed Karim Abdel Gawad in straight games in
the final of the Welaptega Bluenose Squash Classic, PSA M35 tournament.
The number four seed reached the final without dropping a single game
and achieved his place in the showpiece event after easing past World
No.10 Marwan Elshorbagy, who was struggling with illness, in the
semi-final. Gawad had also been in near flawless form in the build up
to the final, seeing off Shawn Delierre, Alfredo Avila and surprise
package Andrew Schnell en-route.
World No.22 Cuskelly started brilliantly and soared into an early lead
after putting his Egyptian opponent under pressure at the front of the
court. Gawad came into the match more as it went on but it was Cuskelly
who stayed patient and picked his openings well to edge the opening
game by a 16-14 margin of victory.
Cuskelly built up another lead in the opening stages of a second game
which excited the gathered spectators Homburg Centre, Canada with a
superb flurry of attacking volleys bringing the crowd to their feet
time and time again. A tin from Gawad handed Cuskelly the game as the
Australian No.1 doubled his advantage.
It was Cuskelly again who started the quicker of the two in game three
as he romped to an unassailable lead. Gawad battled back in a bid to
try and save the match but Cuskelly stood firm to complete a 16-14,
11-8, 11-6 victory which yielded the 14th PSA World Tour title of his
career.
“In the first [game] it was really high quality and I did a lot of work,” said Cuskelly.
“I think I was probably pushing the pace too much and I was a bit too
keen to get on there and win. When you do that you are just putting it
on Gawad’s racket and, if you do that, he puts in the winners so I
tried to slow it down and be aggressive when I got the loose balls.”
Result – Final: Welaptega Bluenose Squash Classic 2015
