Golan Survives Selby To Win $35K Montreal PSA by Howard Harding 7 October 2013
- The final of the Financière Banque Nationale Montreal Open between
the event's top two seeds fittingly went the full distance, with
Spanish favourite Borja Golan ultimately prevailing over England's No2
seed Daryl Selby to claim the PSA World Tour International 35 squash
title on an all-glass court at the Montreal Forum (pictured below) in
Montreal, Canada.
"Golan shows his full
range and goes up 3-0 with drive winner, boast winner, and drop
winner," commented tournament spokesman Radu Neacsu on the opening
game. "Selby gets a few lucky breaks and picks up three points on
strokes. Golan, not happy with the ref's calls, or Selby's easy points,
yells out 'Squash is more difficult than this!' Indeed, Golan would
make sure that Selby would have to work like a madman for the rest of
the match.
"It's point for point
all the way up to nine-all. A Selby winner and then Golan's error later
and the Englishman lets out a fist pump as he takes the game 11-9."
World No9 Golan (pictured above, left, with Selby) turned up the pressure and took the next two games to open up a 2/1 lead.
"What followed in game
four was squash, drama, and entertainment of the absolute highest level
with Oohs and Ahhs from the sold out crowd, all the way up to 10-all,"
continued Neacsu. "At this point Selby shows great sportsmanship
calling his own ball out giving Golan match ball! Golan hits a tight
drop to the front left, Selby scrapes it off the ground, but it's
floating right next to him.
"Golan, perhaps not
wanting to take the easy stroke after Selby just called his own ball
out decides to play the ball. But his drive catches the sidewall and
Selby recovers to eventually win the point and draw level at 11-11!
Several crazy points later and Selby has done the impossible, coming
back from the dead to take the fourth game 14-12."
The Spaniard built up
a 6-1 lead in the decider - but world No14 Selby again raised his game
to reduce the deficit to 5-7. But a determined Golan retained his focus
to close out the match 9-11, 11-3, 11-2, 12-14, 11-5 after 95 minutes.
"I feel tired and good
at the same time," said Golan when asked how he felt about his victory.
"It was a very tough match - the fourth game was brutal.
"But I was able to focus in the fifth and played the best squash I could.
"Daryl is a really
good player - and he's very dangerous when he's behind," added the
30-year-old from Santaigo de Compostela who now boasts 29 PSA World
Tour titles. "I knew that when I was 6-1 up in the fifth - and it
started to get a bit scary.
"I knew I had to play better in the fifth - it's very nice to win the title."
An upbeat Selby later
tweeted: "Congrats to @golansquash for winning the title. What a great
tournament, thanks everyone @MtlSquashOpen. See you next year!"
RESULTS: PSA International 35 Financière Banque Nationale Montreal Open, Montreal, Canada
