Sharpes Shakes Off Shaun For Gard Glory
from PSA Media
9 January 2012 - England's Charles Sharpes earned the glory of winning the first PSA World Tour ranking event of the New Year when he clinched the Open du Gard title in France.
And the third-seeded teenager did it the hard way after overcoming the event's top two seeds en-route to winning the PSA Challenger 5 championship in its fourth year at Sun Squash de Arenes in Nimes.
Sharpes made his breakthrough in the semi-finals where he led Julien Balbo by two games before the French favourite retired injured midway through the third.
In the final, his fifth on the Tour in just over a year, the 19-year-old from Kingston-upon-Thames faced former fellow countryman Shaun le Roux, the second seed who now plays under the South Africa flag.
It was a closely-contested battle which was poised at two-games-all and 5-5 in the decider before underdog Sharpes pulled away to win 11-8, 5-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7 after 81 minutes.
The triumph takes marks up the fourth Tour title of Sharpes' career.
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 5 Open du Gard, Nimes, France
1st round:
[1] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt [Q] Nathan Lake (ENG) 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-1 (67m)
Lucas Serme (FRA) bt Ben Coleman (ENG) 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 (44m)
[Q] Antoine-Camille Petrucci (FRA) bt Geoffrey Demont (FRA) 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 (51m)
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt Chris Truswell (ENG) 14-12, 11-6, 11-1 (36m)
[4] Joan Lezaud (FRA) bt Robert Downer (ENG) 11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8 (39m)
Reiko Peter (SUI) bt [Q] Jack Jago (ENG) 11-3, 11-7, 11-5 (36m)
[Q] Johan Bouquet (FRA) bt Adrian Dudzicki (CAN) 12-10, 6-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9 (67m)
[2] Shaun le Roux (RSA) bt Jerome Dadot (FRA) 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 (29m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 12-10, 11-4, 11-4 (55m)
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt [Q] Antoine-Camille Petrucci (FRA) 10-12, 11-1, 11-6, 5-11, 11-4 (60m)
Reiko Peter (SUI) bt [4] Joan Lezaud (FRA) 12-10, 12-10, 11-8 (50m)
[2] Shaun le Roux (RSA) bt [Q] Johan Bouquet (FRA) 11-7, 6-11, 11-7, 11-2 (49m)
Semi-finals:
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt [1] Julien Balbo (FRA) 11-8, 12-10, 7-2 ret.
[2] Shaun le Roux (RSA) bt Reiko Peter (SUI) 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 (39m)
Final:
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt [2] Shaun le Roux (RSA) 11-8, 5-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7 (81m)
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