French Fancy For Mathieu In Montreal by Nathan Clarke October 25, 2014 -
Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet, the 27-year-old World No.19, claimed the
biggest PSA World Tour title of his career to date by defeating
Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez in the final of the PSA International
50 - Open de squash Financière Banque Nationale tournament in Montreal,
Canada.
The number four seed
from Aix-En-Provence, who last tasted victory in a PSA World Tour event
in 2009, continued the impressive form that has saw him break into the
top 20 for the first time in his career this summer to defeat World
No.14 Rodriguez in a thrilling 100-minute encounter.
It was the second
marathon match for both players during the tournament, with Castagnet
taking 129-minutes to see off Alan Clyne in the quarter-finals and
Rodriguez coming through a 107-minute encounter against Borja Golan in
the semi-finals, but both men had enough in reserve to produce an
enthralling encounter that the Frenchman secured courtesy of two
tie-break games.
Castagnet capitalised
on his opponent's tough semi-final to take the opening game 11-7 and
showed his killer instinct to take a close second game 14-12. However,
Rodriguez, the highest ranked South American player of all time, fought
back to take the third but Castagnet rallied and closed out the match
3-1 courtesy of another tie-break win.
"I can't believe I won and got the title," said a thrilled Castagnet afterwards.
"I have to give huge
thanks to all my sponsors and my staff for all the support they give to
me. I'm looking forward to celebrating this win back in Marseille."
Results: Final - Open de squash Financière Banque Nationale 2014, Montreal, Canada:
