James and Letourneau Lift Nash Cup Crowns by Sean Reuthe
photo PSA
September 26, 2016
- Defending champion Declan James and home hero Danielle Letourneau
triumphed in their respective final clashes against Peruvian Diego
Elias and Japan’s Misaki Kobayashi to become the 2016 Nash Cup
champions at the London Squash and Fitness Club in Canada.
World No.39 James, who overcame Qatar’s Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi in last
year’s final, took the Men’s title after a series of assured displays
saw him down Jaymie Haycocks, Jan van den Herrewegen and World No.50
Ben Coleman to set up a encounter with Elias, a two-time World Junior
Champion, in the final of the PSA M15 event.
In the pair’s first meeting on the PSA World Tour, Elias, who beat
Michael McCue, Andrew Schnell and Olli Tuominen en route to the final,
took an early lead in the opening game, before a determined James
battled back to build up a 1-0 advantage.
James eased to victory in game two to double his lead, but Elias
responded with a more patient approach, which paid immediate dividends
as the 19-year-old clawed the third game back for the loss of two
points, before claiming the fourth to level the scores and set up a
decider.
Nottingham-born James steadied himself at the outset of the fifth game,
with the 23-year-old storming 7-2 ahead, and he fended off Elias’s
attempts to work his way back into the match to close out an 11-9,
11-5, 2-11, 6-11, 11-6 victory, capturing his ninth PSA World Tour
title in the process.
"I’m feeling great, to be champion for a second year is amazing," said James.
"I hope that I can come back for the hat-trick. Tonight was so tough
against Diego, it was 90 minutes of attacking, hard squash. We are both
very young, so I hope this is the first of many battles on the way to
the top 10.
"It’s been an amazing week here in London, what an amazing club and
atmosphere. This is why all the players come back year after year and
more and more come. The hospitality is amazing here."
The Women’s PSA W10 title, meanwhile, ended up in the hands of
Calgary-based World No.65 Letourneau after a nail-biting clash with
third seed Kobayashi saw four of the five games go to dramatic
tie-breaks.
A 16-14 victory for Letourneau in game two, sandwiched by wins for
Kobayashi in the first and third games, left the player from Japan on
the cusp of victory as she aimed for a first PSA World Tour title since
June 2015.
But, with a vocal home crowd behind her, Letourneau battled back,
taking the fourth to restore parity before holding her nerve in a
climactic 18-16 tie-break victory in the fifth to claim her second Tour
title of the year.
"This is my biggest tournament win ever," said Letourneau, who also
beat compatriots Hollie Naughton and Samantha Cornett during the event.
"It’s my first 10k victory, I am still in a bit of a daze at the
moment. Beating the number two, three and four seeds, including 2
Canadian ladies, is amazing. I was very focused the entire tournament
and just kept my head down and played squash.
"I am happy to have just ground it out at the end, it was obviously one
of those matches with basically every game a tie-break, so it could go
either way. I felt fine physically, even at the end, the adrenaline and
the crowd just kept me going. When there’s so much energy from the
crowd, you don’t even feel your body."
Result - Final: Men’s Nash Cup 2016
[2] Declan James (ENG) bt [1] Diego Elias (PER) 3-2: 11-9, 11-5, 2-11, 6-11, 11-6 (90m)
