Frost on a Roll in Zurich by Nathan Clarke 16TH MAR 2015 -
Denmark’s Kristian Frost Olesen continued his love affair with
Switzerland, winning his fourth PSA World Tour title in the country,
and his second tour title in a row, after beating Welshman Joel Makin
in the final of the Club 250 Swiss Open, PSA Challenger 5 event, in
Zurich.
The World No.77, who won the Squash Promotion Group & Heroes Open
last month, survived two five-game encounters early on to reach the
semi-finals of the event at VITIS SportsCenter, where he saw off
Israeli qualifier Daniel Poleshchuk in straight games, despite needing
two tiebreaks, to reach the 17th final of his career.
Teenager Poleshchuk fully justified his recent nomination as ‘PSA
Player of the Month’ by earning an unexpected place in the event’s last
four after upsetting third seed Douglas Kempsell and local hope Patrick
Miescher, the No.7 seed, in the earlier rounds.
The other semi-final was a battle of Joels in which Makin, the fourth
seed, twice came from behind to upset England’s higher-ranked Joel
Hinds, the second seed, in a 76-minute encounter.
But after surviving a 33-minute opening game in the final, Olesen
stormed through to conquer Makin 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 in 68 minutes to win
the 11th title of his career and become only the third man after Nick
Matthew and Raphael Kandra to win a second PSA World Tour title so far
in 2015.
“I’m not surprised at all that I had to battle for 68 minutes for a 3-0
win as Joel is a very strong, tough lad,” said the delighted Dane after
his title triumph.
“He shows superb athleticism and flexibility in his movement.
“Winning the first game was crucial in the context of the match. The
match actually also counted as a challenge match to decide who plays
number one in my Danish league team.”
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 5 Club 250 Swiss Open, Zurich, Switzerland
1st round:
[1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt Rui Soares (POR) 3-2: 11-9, 8-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-1 (58m)
[6] Tim Weber (GER) bt [Q] Tarek Shehata (EGY) 3-2: 5-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 (51m)
[7] Patrick Miescher (SUI) bt [Q] Tristan Eysele (ENG) 3-2: 11-7, 11-7, 10-12, 4-11, 11-7 (48m)
[Q] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt [3] Douglas Kempsell (SCO) 3-1: 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6 (50m)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [LL] Cedric Kuchen (SUI) 3-0: 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 (33m)
[5] Benjamin Fischer (SUI) bt [Q] Steven London (ENG) 3-1: 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 (50m)
[WC] Manuel Wanner (SUI) bt [8] Jonas Daehler (SUI) 3-0: 11-8, 15-13, 11-7 (52m)
[2] Joel Hinds (ENG) bt Sean Conroy (IRL) 3-1: 9-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-6 (32m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt [6] Tim Weber (GER) 3-2: 8-11, 11-3, 3-11, 11-5, 12-10 (78m)
[Q] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt [7] Patrick Miescher (SUI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 (31m)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [5] Benjamin Fischer (SUI) 3-1: 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-3 (58m)
[2] Joel Hinds (ENG) bt [WC] Manuel Wanner (SUI) 3-1: 11-5, 12-10, 5-11, 11-7 (55m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt [Q] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 11-6 (51m)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [2] Joel Hinds (ENG) 3-2: 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6 (76m)
Final:
[1] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt [4] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-2: 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 (68m)
