June 13, 2011-Czech
champion Jan Koukal survived his second successive 75-minute marathon
in the 'Tour De Las Americas' Regatas Resistencia Open in Argentina to
win the inaugural PSA World Tour Challenger 10 squash event at the Club
Regatas Resistencia in Resistencia.
Less than 24 hours after beating
Adrian Waller in a five-game semi - thereby avenging two Tour final
defeats in a row by the Englishman over the last two weeks - top seed
Koukal faced Rafael F Alarcon, the second-seeded Brazilian whom he
defeated in four games in last year's Cerdil Open final in Brazil.
The top-ranked Czech player raced to a two-game lead before Alarcon regained the upper hand in the third to move 7-2 ahead.
But Koukal clawed his way back and twice was just a single-point away from victory.
However, the Brazilian saved both match-balls before converting his own to reduce the deficit.
Koukal again led in the fourth - and
again Alarcon re-established control to force a fifth-game decider -
much to the delight of the capacity crowd.
The Czech charged ahead to lead
again - but this time there was no comeback for the Brazilian. As
Koukal clinched his epic 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 10-12, 11-7 victory, the
27-year-old from Prague threw his racket in the air in jubilation as
the crowd rose to give both players a standing ovation..
The triumph marks the 18th PSA World Tour title of Koukal's career.
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 10 'Tour De Las Americas' Regatas Resistencia Open, Resistencia, Argentina
Final: [1] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [2] Rafael F Alarcon (BRA) 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 10-12, 11-7 (75m)