2 August 2011-
Germany's Raphael Kandra celebrated title success in the New South
Wales Open after beating Aqeel Rehman in a shock all-European final of
the PSA World Tour Challenger 5 squash event at Willoughby Squash
Centre in Sydney, Australia.
It was after beating England's third seed Lewis Walters in the
quarter-finals that Kandra, the No8 seed, produced a major upset by
ousting second-seeded Australian Rex Hedrick in a five-game semi-final
marathon.
And in the other semi, Austrian Rehman denied the hosts the predicted
all-Australian final when he despatched Sydney-born favourite Scott
Arnold.
But Kandra, celebrating his second unexpected Tour final appearance in Australia in a row, was now on a roll.
After dropping the first game, the 20-year-old from Erlangen battled
for 62 minutes to overcome fifth seed Rehman - winning 6-11, 13-11,
11-9, 8-11, 11-9 to claim the first PSA World Tour title of his career.
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 5 New South Wales Open, Sydney, Australia