Koukal Clings On In Argentina by Howard Harding

June 11, 2011
-Czech challenger Jan Koukal avenged two successive defeats by Adrian Waller in the last two weeks when he beat the Englishman in five games to reach the final of the 'Tour De Las Americas' Regatas Resistencia Open in Argentina.

Waller looked set to claim a hat-trick of wins over the Czech champion as romped to a two-game lead in the semi-finals of the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 squash event in its first year at the Club Regatas Resistencia in Resistencia.

The 21-year-old third seed from Enfield had four match-balls in the marathon third game, but top seed Koukal kept control as he took the game 16-14 to keep the match alive.

The Czech number one dug deep to maintain the upper hand - and, after 75 minutes, threw his racket in the air in jubilation as he clinched his sensational 6-11, 6-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-8 victory.

The match was a replay of May's Cerdil Open final in Brazil and last week's Paraguay Open climax in Asuncion - both of which Waller won in five games!

The win takes Koukal into his fourth PSA Tour final of the year, and the 27th of his career.

The 27-year-old from Prague will face Brazilian hero Rafael F Alarcon, the No2 seed from Sao Paulo who recovered from a game down to beat fourth-seeded American Christopher Gordon 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10 in 55 minutes.

The semi-final success takes 34-year-old Alarcon, ranked just one place lower than Koukal in the world, into the 26th Tour final of his career - but the South American's first in Argentina!

RESULTS: PSA Challenger 10 'Tour De Las Americas' Regatas Resistencia Open, Resistencia, Argentina

Semi-finals:
[1] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [3] Adrian Waller (ENG) 6-11, 6-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-8 (75m)
[2] Rafael F Alarcon (BRA) bt [4] Christopher Gordon (USA) 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10 (55m)




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