Nicolas Nicks Olli's PSA Finnish Open Crown from PSA Media 24 February 2014
- Home hero Olli Tuominen was denied a sixth Savcor Finnish Open title
when he lost out to event favourite Nicolas Mueller in a hard-fought
final of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Shopping
Center Stella in Mikkeli, Finland. Second seed Tuominen,
the World No.24 from Helsinki who won a record 15th successive Finnish
National title earlier this month, earned his sixth appearance in the
Finnish Open final since 2008 after beating Egypt's third seed Omar
Abdel Aziz in the semi-finals. The straight games win notched up the 34-year-old's 20th appearance in a Tour final. Mueller, the World
No.28 from Switzerland and also his country's national champion for the
previous seven years, had a tougher assignment in the other semi –
needing four games to see off fifth seed Fares Mohamed Dessouki, also
from Egypt. "Tuominen started in a
promising way and took a 5-3 lead - but Mueller came back with five
consecutive points to turn the score to 8-5," reported event spokesman
Poku Salo. "Then Tuominen took three points and equalled the
score at eight-all. At 10-9 Tuominen saved one game ball but
Mueller took the game 12-10, in 18 minutes. "The second game was
all about Mueller, who went from 8-2 to take the game 11-5. In
the third game Tuominen got a slight control and came through 11-9 and
was back in the match. "The fourth game
started with Mueller taking an early lead but Tuominen came back to
equal the score at seven-all and continued to two game balls at
10-8. After a few let-balls, Mueller got match ball at 11-10 and
took the match and the Finnish Open title with a stroke in his first
match ball." The 12-10, 11-5, 9-11,
12-10 success in his 10th final marks the eighth PSA Tour title of
Mueller's career – but his first for four years.
RESULTS: Savcor Finnish Open, Mikkeli, Finland 1st round: [1] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [Q] Paul Coll (NZL) 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 11-6 (53m) [7] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt Jens Schoor (GER) 11-8, 11-5, 11-9 (44m) [5] Fares Mohamed Dessouki (EGY) bt [Q] Declan James (ENG) 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 (34m) [4] Zahed Mohamed (EGY) bt [WC] Matias Tuomi (FIN) 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 (20m) [3] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt [Q] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 13-11 (52m) [8] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [Q] Sebastiaan Weenink (NED) 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 14-12 (50m) [6] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt Greg Lobban (SCO) 5-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4 (69m) [2] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) 10-12, 11-7, 11-3, 11-7 (54m)
Quarter-finals: [1] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [7] Raphael Kandra (GER) 11-5, 11-3, 11-9 (35m) [5] Fares Mohamed Dessouki (EGY) bt [4] Zahed Mohamed (EGY) 11-4, 11-4, 11-3 (32m) [3] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt [8] Jan Koukal (CZE) 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 (54m) [2] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt [6] Rex Hedrick (AUS) 11-4, 11-8, 11-5 (35m)
Semi-finals: [1] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [5] Fares Mohamed Dessouki (EGY) 11-3, 3-11, 11-6, 11-9 (58m) [2] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt [3] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 (37m)
Final: [1] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [2] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 12-10, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10
