Knight Lands Biggest Tour Title In NZ from PSA Media June 30, 2014
- New Zealand international Martin Knight clinched his biggest PSA
World Tour title on home soil when he despatched Australian Rex Hedrick
in straight games in today's final of the ILT & Community Trust NZ
Southern PSA Open, the inaugural PSA Challenger 15 event at Squash City
in Invercargill. It was the Kiwi number
two's second successive win over an Australian, having recovered from a
game down to beat Matthew Karwalski, the third seed from New South
Wales, in a 58-minute semi-final. In the other semi, No4
seed Hedrick survived a 94-minute clash to upset top-seeded Malaysian
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan and reach his first Tour final of the year – but
the 16th of his career. Boosted by home
advantage, the intensely-focused Knight set about his victory in
determined style – defeating Hedrick 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 in 68 minutes to
score his second homeland Tour win in a row, and the seventh title of
his career. “I’m really happy to
win, especially to do it 3/0," said the jubilant No2 seed (pictured
with Hedrick, second left) from North Shore afterwards. "It was pretty tough
out there, Rex has had a few hard matches leading up to the final and I
wanted to put the pressure on early in the first game. I wanted
to keep the pace high and not give him any breathing space but I felt
like I was doing more and more work all the time. "I managed to get out
to a good lead in every game before Rex came back at me strongly,"
added the 30-year-old World No.49. "I wasn’t looking forward to
having to go back on court for a fourth game. "I’m exceptionally happy to win my biggest title in about four and a half years.” RESULTS: PSA Challenger 15 ILT & Community Trust NZ Southern PSA Open, Invercargill, New Zealand 1st round: [1] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt [Q] Sanjay Singh (MAS) 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 (38m) [6] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) bt [Q] Adam Murrills (ENG) 11-4, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10 (39m) [7] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Matias Tuomi (FIN) 11-4, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5 (35m) [4] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt [Q] Kashif Shuja (NZL) 11-4, 6-11, 11-6, 5-11, 13-11 (94m) [3] Matthew Karwalski (AUS) bt [Q] Ben Grindrod (NZL) 11-9, 11-8, 11-5 (30m) James Huang (TPE) bt [8] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 [WC] Lance Beddoes (NZL) bt [5] Jan Koukal (CZE) 11-5, 16-18, 11-8 ret. [2] Martin Knight (NZL) bt Joe Chapman (IVB) 11-6, 11-5, 12-10 (39m) Quarter-finals: [1] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt [6] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 13-11 (52m) [4] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt [7] Paul Coll (NZL) 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 11-9 (67m) [3] Matthew Karwalski (AUS) bt James Huang (TPE) 11-3, 13-11, 11-5 (33m) [2] Martin Knight (NZL) bt [WC] Lance Beddoes (NZL) 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-4 (64m) Semi-finals: [4] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt [1] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-5, 3-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8 (94m) [2] Martin Knight (NZL) bt [3] Matthew Karwalski (AUS) 6-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-5 (58m) Final: [2] Martin Knight (NZL) bt [4] Rex Hedrick (AUS) 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 (68m)
