Serme Scores Surprise Salzburg PSA Success from PSA Media 16 March 2014
- It was a case of sixth time lucky for No2 seed Lucas Serme when the
Frenchman upset top-seeded Dane Kristian Frost Olesen in today's final
of the Austrian Open, the PSA Challenger 5 squash event at Tenniscourt
Sud in Salzburg. The top two seeds
reached the climax of the event celebrating its fifth successive year
in Salzburg in contrasting styles. Olesen despatched Swiss
opponent Reiko Peter in straight games while Serme came back from two
games down against fourth seed Mahesh Mangaonkar to force a decider –
then the Indian was forced to retire midway through the game suffering
with severe cramp. "After a 20-minute
long opening game, which Lucas won 11-6, Kristian was able to lift the
pressure more and came back strong to win the second game 11-5 to level
the match," said event promoter Aqeel Rehman. "The third game was
the deciding game. The pace and intensity was enormous and the
sold out crowd was fascinated by the retrieval skills of both
players. Kristian had that little bit of advantage through most
of the game until 9-7. But it was then when Lucas geared up and
reached game ball at 10-9. However it took him another game ball
to finish the game 12-10." Serme went on to wrap
up the fourth to close out the match 11-7, 5-11, 12-10, 11-3 in 81
minutes to record his first victory over the Dane in six meetings. "Before the tournament
I didn't have a lot of confidence, as it was my first tournament after
injury since November," said Serme (pictured below with Rehman) after
winning the fifth PSA World Tour title of his career. "I am happy to win and
am thankful to have won after I lost here in the semi-final last
year. By the time I was feeling even better and my back and hip
was fine. "Thanks to Aqeel for putting on the tournament as it is hard to play an run the event." RESULTS: Austrian Open, Salzburg, Austria 1st round: [1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt [Q] Anthony Graham (ENG) 9-11, 11-2, 11-4, 11-5 (50m) [5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) bt [Q] Andre Haschker (GER) 11-2, 11-9, 11-2 (25m) [7] Reiko Peter (SUI) bt [WC] Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) 13-11, 9-11, 11-4, 15-13 (65m) [3] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [Q] Tim Weber (GER) 11-6, 7-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7 (60m) [4] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt [Q] Patrick Miescher (SUI) 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 (35m) [8] Alex Ingham (ENG) bt Benjamin Fischer (SUI) 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8 [6] Bradley Hindle (MLT) bt James Earles (ENG) 11-4, 10-12, 13-11, 11-7 [2] Lucas Serme (FRA) bt Thoboki Mohohlo (RSA) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (27m)
