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Austrian Open 2015
13-18 Apr, Salzburg, $5k |
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18-Apr, Final:
[1] Peter Creed (Wal) 3-0 [2] Sebastiaan Weenink (Ned)
11/4, 11/8, 15/13 (55m)
Top seed Creed takes Salzburg title
Aqeel Rehman reports
 The Austrian Open Champion 2015 is Peter Creed. The top seed
took the title after a 3/0 victory over second seed Sebastiaan
Weenink from the Netherlands.
The third games was very crucial. Seb managed to come back from 5/10
down, saving in total nine match balls and missing a game ball for
himself before Peter took the game 15/13 to win the match.
During the event the Welsh Number one showed why he was the
favourite for this event and deserved to grab the title. Well done.
The crowd at the EUROPARK shopping mall was packed again and saw
some great squash. It was the best advertisement for the sport in
Austria ever in history, reaching an enormous number of views vie
TV, Radio, print media and online.
The whole event 'Austrian Squash Challenge' was a great success and
hopefully will be continued next year. Thanks to all the sponsors
and people and staff who helped running this Challenge. Major Thanks
as well goes to EUROPARK for their support in giving us this unique
chance!
"In the third game I
was 10/5 up and stopped playing Squash. Seb started playing much
better and I was getting anxious. This caused a lot of collisions.
But both of us very fighting hard and in the heat of the moment it
is what sometimes happens.
"I am over the moon in winning in three especially. Thanks to all
the sponsors making this event happening."
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Twitter: @SquashChallenge
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  Austrian
Open 2015
13-18 Apr, Salzburg, $5k |
Round One
15 Apr |
Quarters
16 Apr |
Semis
17 Apr |
Final
18 Apr |
[1] Peter Creed (Wal)
11/6, 11/4, 8/11, 11/3 (55m)
[Q] Tom De Mulder (Bel) |
[1] Peter Creed
12/10, 12/10, 11/4 (45m)
[5] Mark Fuller |
[1] Peter Creed
12/10,7/11, 11/6, 11/5 (67m)
[4] Tim Weber |
[1] Peter Creed
11/4, 11/8, 15/13 (55m)
[2] Sebastiaan Weenink |
[5] Mark Fuller (Eng)
11/4, 6/11, 11/4, 11/9 (40m)
[Q] Martin Svec (Cze) |
[7] Jaako Vahamaa (Fin)
11/1, 11/6, 11/8 (25m)
[wc] Courtney West (Aus) |
[7] Jaako Vahamaa
10/12, 11/7, 11/9, 11/9 (50m)
[4] Tim Weber |
[4] Tim Weber (Ger)
11/7, 9/11, 11/8, 9/11, 11/6 (60m)
Josh Masters (Eng) |
Jamie Henderson (Sco)
11/9, 11/9, 12/10 (38m)
[3] Aqeel Rehman (Aut) |
[3] Aqeel Rehman
11/5, 11/5, 11/7 (37m)
[8] Jakob Dirnberger |
[3] Aqeel Rehman
11/4, 11/7, 3/11, 11/5 (50m)
[2] Sebastiaan Weenink |
[Q] Remo Handl (Sui)
8/11, 11/4, 11/6, 11/3
[8] Jakob Dirnberger (Aut) |
[Q] Tristan Eysele (Rsa)
13/11, 11/6, 11/2
[6] Steve London (Eng) |
[Q] Tristan Eysele
11/5, 11/8, 11/6 (32m)
[2] Sebastiaan Weenink |
Bernat Jaume (Esp)
11/9, 11/6, 11/6
[2] Sebastiaan Weenink (Ned) |
14-Apr, Qualifying Finals:
Tristan Eysele (Rsa) 3-0 Phil Nightingale (Eng)
11/8, 11/4, 11/4 (23m)
Tom De Mulder (Bel) 3-0 Lewis Doughty (Eng)
11/2, 11/3, 11/8 (25m)
Remo Handl (Sui) 3-0
Miroslav Celler (Svk)
11/7, 11/2, 11/9 (24m)
Martin Svec (Cze) 3-0
Nick Mulvey (Eng)
11/7, 11/4, 13/11 (30m)
13-Apr, Qualifying Round One:
Nick Mulvey (Eng) 3-0 Manuel Kurzweil (Aut)
11/7, 11/9, 11/4
Tristan Eysele (Rsa) 3-0 Marcus Greslehner (Aut)
11/7, 11/1, 11/1
Remo Handl (Sui) 3-0 Robert Fasser (Aut)
11/4, 11/3, 11/3
Tom De Mulder (Bel) 3-0 Andreas Eibl (Aut)
11/4, 11/7, 11/4
Lewis Doughty (Eng) 3-0 Alexander Harml (Aut)
11/2, 11/3, 11/5
Martin Svec (Cze) 3-0 Mario Krabb (Aut)
11/3, 11/2, 11/2
Phil Nightingale (Eng) 3-0 Simon Draxler (Aut)
11/3, 11/2, 11/0
Miroslav Celler (Svk) 3-0 Christoph Ressel (Aut)
11/1, 11/2, 11/7
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17-Apr, Semis:
Top seeds Creed and Weenink
through to final ...
A packed crowd at EUROPARK shopping
mall in Salzburg saw the semifinals of the Austrian Open on Friday
evening. Due to the rainy weather and the local favourite Aqeel
Rehman having a chance to reach the final it was a great atmosphere.
First on was top seeded Peter Creed against German Tim
Weber. It was an even match where Weber was able to level to 1/1
after a good second game. His opponent though showed why he is the
favourite for the title and managed to lift his quality again to
pull away. The long rallies also help Peter to get more control over
the german and deserved to win 3/1.
The crowd was fascinated by the rallies and movement and got even
more excited when Austria's number one Aqeel Rehman stepped
on court against the second seed Sebastiaan Weenink from the
Netherlands.
Unfortunately the first game didn't went the way the spectators were
hoping for, with Seb playing a good quality and most of the time
dominating the rallies. The second game was a more open affair, with
Aqeel finding his quality a bit better. But Seb kept his hitting up
and there was hardly any way to be threatend for a longer period and
the Dutchman went 2/0 up.
There was a big hope of a comeback in the third when Aqeel was
hitting great targets at the front racing to a 9/1 lead and taking
the game 11/3. The crowed was now chanting a war cry ('jetzt gehts
los!') but after a good start from the Austrian in the fourth Seb
wouldn't let himself intimidate and pushed back. He was able to find
his control again and took the match as deserved winner.
 However
it was an absolute great advertisement for Squash with a lot of
people getting attracted to the action even though many of them
never heard of the sport!
It means the final will be between both topseeds Peter Creed and
Sebastiaan Weenink ab 16:30 local time. There will be a big raffle
of 100 prizes prior to that, to win an Ipad, heart rate monitor,
runing gear etc and a double exibition, followed by the price giving
ceremony which will be attended by local politicians.
This will be covered by national TV and press agents again.
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Twitter: @SquashChallenge
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16-Apr, Quarters:
Aqeel Rehman reports
All four top seeded players made it
into the semifinal of the Austrian Open on the Glasscourt at the
shopping mall EUROPARK Salzburg.
First player to go through was Peter Creed from Wales after a
3/0 win over Mark Fuller. However the first two games could have
gone either way, only being decided in the tiebreak.
The top seeded welshman will face german Tim Weber who passed
through Jaakko Vähämaa from Finland in four close games. This was
also the longest match of the night.
The second semfinal will be between Dutch number two seed
Sebastiaan Weenink and local favourite Aqeel Rehman.
Seb managed to win in three games against South African qualifier
Tristan Eysele in similar style to the Austrian Champion Aqeel, who
won the All-Austrian (actually All-Salzburg) affair against Jakob
Dirnberger 3/0 as well.
The weather forcast for Friday is rainy, meaning a full shopping
mall with lots of spectators watching. Semifinal action starts at
5:30 p.m. after the junior-showtraining of the SC80 Salzburg.
Today's media coverage was great, Press reporters including
photographers from the biggest newspaper in Austria came to report
as well as National TV and Radio ORF.
You can find the clip on
http://tvthek.orf.at/program/Salzburg-heute/70019/Salzburg-heute/9589708
How well known this event is shows another VIP visit of Luka
Grancar, Icehockey Goalkeeper of Red Bull Salzburg, who just won
their League title on tuesday.
We are excited who will come along on friday! |
Twitter: @SquashChallenge
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15-Apr, Round One:
Aqeel Rehman reports
Only one seeded player didn't make it
into the quarterfinal of the Austrian Open in the shopping mall
EUROPARK in Salzburg.
South African Qualifier Tristan Eysele was the lucky one to
upset Steve London in three games to secure himself a spot on the
glasscourt on Thursday. His opponent will be second seeded Dutchman
Sebastiaan Weenink who overcame the Spaniard Bernat Jaume in
three games.
Josh Masters from England was close to an upset. He was twice able
to come back from one game behind again German number four seed
Tim Weber. However the experienced German was able to win in
five and will meet Jaakko Vähämaa from Finland who beat
Wildcard-entry Courtney West from Australia.
The last two matches were resereved for the Austrians Jakob
Dirnberger and Aqeel Rehman. Jakob faced Swiss Qualifier Remo
Handl and saw himself one game down. But he managed to lift his game
and ended up winning 3/1. This means Jakob reached the Quarterfinal
in Salzburg for the first time!
The crowd was then fully satisfied with another local victory of
Austrian record 9-time Champion Aqeel Rehman against Jamie Henderson
from Scotland. However the Austrian was stretched in each game
before winning 11/9. 11/9, 12/10.
Both Jakob and Aqeel deserved to go through to the Quarterfinal. The
only downside will be that those two will meet each other in
Thursday in front of National TV ORF.
Although it also means there is a guaranteed Austrian representation
in the semifinal, let's see who will be the lucky one.
Live Scores can be found on the
tournament website
www.squash-im-europark.at as well as on twitter (@SquashChallenge
#austriansquashchallenge)
Also two TV-Clips from local TV Station RTS can be found here:
https://twitter.com/squashchallenge and
http://www.rts-salzburg.at/sendung/2015-04-13/sport-magazin
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Twitter: @SquashChallenge
Aqeel with Jonathan Soriano from Red Bull Salzburg football
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15-Apr, Qualifying finals:
Aqeel Rehman reports
Today's second round of qualifying for the Austrian Open at the
EUROPARK shopping mall in Salzburg brought four 3/0 victories for
Tristan Eysele, Remo Handl, Tom De Mulder and Martin Svec.
Very remarkable was Remo's win, as he got into the Qualidraw as a
reserve player in last minute!
The main draw action will start on Wednesday with eight matches, and
two of them with local interest. Jakob Dirnberger and
Aqeel Rehman, both Salzburg-born will count on a great home
support on the All-Glasscourt and looking for a favorite-win to face
each other in the quarterfinal hopefully.
But let's go match by match!
14-Apr, Qualifying round one:
Squash lands in Europark
Aqeel Rehman reports
 The
Austrian Open are held this year on an all-glasscourt in on of
europe's most sucessfull shopping mall EUROPARK, as a part of the 'Austrian
Squash Challenge' from 7-18 April
This is a huge event, including public activities, VIP events and
the Austrian League Play-Offs where home team SC80 Salzburg
(Cameron Pilley, Chris Simpson, Aqeel Rehman, Michael Gruber)
finished second after beating reigning champions Wiener Neudorf.
 It
is being broadcast on the biggest national newspapers, national TV
and radio, as well with its event website
www.squash-im-europark.at
400.000 EUROPARK-visitors are expected during this event at the
courtside, it will be Austria's biggest ever Squashevent!
Today's first round of qualifying for the Austrian Open had eight
local players trying to beat some of the PSA Players. This year
players from 14 different nations are taking part.
Unfortunately
there was no Austrian progress in that first round. However two
Austrians, Jakob Dirnberger and Aqeel Rehman (winner of 2013) are
seeded in the main draw.
So this will be a great chance for Squash to expose and the interest
from the public is absolutely great so far.
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Twitter: @SquashChallenge
Aqeel with Jonathan Soriano from Red Bull Salzburg football
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