Tuominen Takes Title After Finnish Open Marathon
by Howard Harding
12 February 2013 - Finn veteran Olli Tuominen had to survive the longest recorded match of his career to win his fifth title at the Savcor Finnish Open Squash Championship in Mikkeli, Finland.
The 33-year-old former world No13 - in his 17th year on the PSA World Tour - was facing 21-year-old Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad in the climax of the long-established PSA Challenger 15 event at Shopping Center Stella for the second year in a row.
Twelve months ago, Tuominen triumphed in four games over the young Egyptian who began his professional career only four years earlier - and who was then ranked almost 20 places below the Helsinki hero.
Today, the pair sit alongside each other in the PSA world list - Tuominen at No23 and Gawad at 24.
The Cairo underdog twice led, and both times local hero Tuominen delighted the crowd by drawing level - the fourth game being the third of the match to go to a tie-break!
"Both players had their moments and the outcome was not to be predicted until the last ball was played," reported event spokesman Poku Salo. "In the end it was Olli who came out as the winner and secured his fifth Finnish Open title."
Tuominen earned his 10-12, 11-6, 12-14, 12-10, 11-8 title triumph in 112 minutes - the longest Tour match of his career, but interestingly only the third longest of his young opponent!
The victory takes Tuominen's Tour title tally to 12.
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 15 Savcor Finnish Open, Mikkeli, Finland
Final:
[1] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt [2] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 10-12, 11-6, 12-14, 12-10, 11-8 (112m)
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