Frost on a Roll in Zurich
by Nathan Clarke

16TH MAR 2015 - Denmark’s Kristian Frost Olesen continued his love affair with Switzerland, winning his fourth PSA World Tour title in the country, and his second tour title in a row, after beating Welshman Joel Makin in the final of the Club 250 Swiss Open, PSA Challenger 5 event, in Zurich.

The World No.77, who won the Squash Promotion Group & Heroes Open last month, survived two five-game encounters early on to reach the semi-finals of the event at VITIS SportsCenter, where he saw off Israeli qualifier Daniel Poleshchuk in straight games, despite needing two tiebreaks, to reach the 17th final of his career.

Teenager Poleshchuk fully justified his recent nomination as ‘PSA Player of the Month’ by earning an unexpected place in the event’s last four after upsetting third seed Douglas Kempsell and local hope Patrick Miescher, the No.7 seed, in the earlier rounds.

The other semi-final was a battle of Joels in which Makin, the fourth seed, twice came from behind to upset England’s higher-ranked Joel Hinds, the second seed, in a 76-minute encounter.

But after surviving a 33-minute opening game in the final, Olesen stormed through to conquer Makin 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 in 68 minutes to win the 11th title of his career and become only the third man after Nick Matthew and Raphael Kandra to win a second PSA World Tour title so far in 2015.

“I’m not surprised at all that I had to battle for 68 minutes for a 3-0 win as Joel is a very strong, tough lad,” said the delighted Dane after his title triumph.

“He shows superb athleticism and flexibility in his movement.

“Winning the first game was crucial in the context of the match. The match actually also counted as a challenge match to decide who plays number one in my Danish league team.”

RESULTS: PSA Challenger 5 Club 250 Swiss Open, Zurich, Switzerland

1st round:
[1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt Rui Soares (POR) 3-2: 11-9, 8-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-1 (58m)
[6] Tim Weber (GER) bt [Q] Tarek Shehata (EGY) 3-2: 5-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 (51m)
[7] Patrick Miescher (SUI) bt [Q] Tristan Eysele (ENG) 3-2: 11-7, 11-7, 10-12, 4-11, 11-7 (48m)
[Q] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt [3] Douglas Kempsell (SCO) 3-1: 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6 (50m)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [LL] Cedric Kuchen (SUI) 3-0: 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 (33m)
[5] Benjamin Fischer (SUI) bt [Q] Steven London (ENG) 3-1: 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 (50m)
[WC] Manuel Wanner (SUI) bt [8] Jonas Daehler (SUI) 3-0: 11-8, 15-13, 11-7 (52m)
[2] Joel Hinds (ENG) bt Sean Conroy (IRL) 3-1: 9-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-6 (32m)

Quarter-finals:
[1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt [6] Tim Weber (GER) 3-2: 8-11, 11-3, 3-11, 11-5, 12-10 (78m)
[Q] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt [7] Patrick Miescher (SUI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 (31m)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [5] Benjamin Fischer (SUI) 3-1: 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-3 (58m)
[2] Joel Hinds (ENG) bt [WC] Manuel Wanner (SUI) 3-1: 11-5, 12-10, 5-11, 11-7 (55m)

Semi-finals:
[1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt [Q] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 11-6 (51m)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [2] Joel Hinds (ENG) 3-2: 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6 (76m)

Final:
[1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt [4] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-2: 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 (68m)