Rafa Retains Brazil Open Crown
by Howard Harding
12 September 2011- Brazilian squash star Rafael Alarcon produced the dream result for organisers of the Tour De Las Americas Brazil Open when he successfully retained the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 title at Academia Winner in Belo Horizonte.
The second seed from Sao Paulo despatched a fellow countryman, an Italian and a Frenchman on the way to the final for the second year in a row - where he faced top seed Jan Koukal, the Czech number one ranked ten places higher in the PSA world list.
But, with the local crowd firmly behind him, the 34-year-old world No58 battled for 54 minutes to upset Koukal, aged 28, 11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5.
The triumph marked the first PSA World Tour title of the year for Alarcon - but the 17th of his career, and his 11th on home soil.
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 10 Tour De Las Americas Brazil Open, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Final:
[2] Rafael Alarcon (BRA) bt [1] Jan Koukal (CZE) 11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5 (54m)
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