Teenager Poleshchuk Stuns Field at Israel Open by Nathan Clarke February 23, 2015
- Daniel Poleshchuk, the Israeli teenager ranked World No.199, booked
his place in the history books by becoming the first Israeli player
ever to win a title on the PSA World Tour with a remarkable
come-from-behind victory in the final of the Global Relocations Israel
Open, PSA Challenger 5 event.
The 19-year-old from Ramat-Gan earned his place in the draw after
coming through qualification and he capped a memorable week by fighting
back from two games down against number two seed Geoffrey Demont to
take the title and delight the partisan crowd with an 86-minute, 6-11,
6-11, 11-7, 11-3, 13-11 victory.
Poleshchuk was terrific throughout the event, dropping just one game on
his way to the final, as he breezed past fourth seed Christophe Andre,
the 2014 runner-up, and England’s No.7 seed Oliver Pett en-route to
earning his maiden appearance in a PSA World Tour final.
The Frenchman was the clear favourite going into the match and showed
exactly why with a professional display that saw him take the first two
games, but Poleshchuk shored up his game and saw the pendulum swing his
way as he levelled the match and held on to take the title in a tense
tie-break in the fifth game,
“I did it!” exclaimed the 19-year-old. “I won my first ever PSA
title after being 2/0 and 6-2 down - I managed to come back and win
13-11 in the fifth.
“I want to thank Nadav Wilensky for being there for me during the whole
tournament; my coach in Poland Maciek Kils; my family; and all my
friends who were supporting me during this epic final."
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 5 Global Relocations Israel Open, Herzliya, Israel
