“I am very pleased, satisfied for my results in the Colombian tour,” said the 26-year-old local hero later. “I had an amazing three weeks – not only squash but great experience and activities with the players who decided to come over and enjoy our friendly and happy country.

8-11, 11-6, 11-13,
13-11, 1-0 rtd (104m)

Arturo Salazar

11-8, 11-2, 11-2 (37m)

[2] Miguel Angel Rodriguez

11-7 rtd

[2] Miguel Angel Rodriguez

05-Sep, Qualifying Finals:

Erik Tepos Valtierra (Mex) 3-0 Anderson Cardona (Col)         11-3, 12-10, 11-3 (38m)
Johan Bouquet (Fra) 3-2 Thomas Brinkman (Can)   11-3, 5-11, 3-11, 11-6, 11-2 (57m)
Alfredo Avila (Mex) 3-1 Hernan D'Arcangelo (Arg)          11-7, 11 -5, 11-9, 11-4 (50m)
Gonzalo Miranda (Arg) 3-0 Josh Cardwell (Aus)                      11-8, 11-8, 11-7 (40m)

04-Sep Qualifying Round One:

Gonzalo Miranda (Arg) bye
Josh Cardwell (Aus) 3-0 Santiago Torres (Col)             11-4, 11-7, 11-5 (24m)
Hernan D'Arcangelo (Arg) w/o Andres Gonzalez (Col)
Alfredo Avila (Mex) 3-0 Carlos Congote (Col)              11-3, 11-2, 11-2 (11m)
Thomas Brinkman (Can) 3-0 Deison Ramirez (Col)      11-2, 11-7, 11-5 (14m)
Johan Bouquet (Fra) 3-0 Armando Olguin (Mex)            11-3, 11-6, 11-3 (29m)
Anderson Cardona (Col) 3-0 Fernando Lopez (Mex)      11-8, 11-6, 11-6 (46m)
Erik Tepos (Mex)  bye

06-Sep, Round One:
Salazar shocks Shahier
in Cartagena upset
Maxim P Weithers reports

The first round of the Cartagena Open, the first PSA event in the city for saw a significant upset as Mexiuco's Arturo Salazar beat third seeded Canadian Shahier Razik to join his twin brother Cesar, the fourth seed, in the quarter-finals.

Top seed Steve Coppinger was just too steady for the speed of the Mexican Eric Galvez who had moments of brilliance with crushing overhead volley nicks. Coppinger was able to absorb all the power Galvez had and won in a good first round match.

Mexico's Alfredo Avila played another controlled game to beat Canadian David Letourneau in comfortable games, again showing his control and placement throughout most of the match.

A closely contested match from beginning to end which could have gone either way, saw Dane Sharp beat Argentinian qualifier Gonzalo Miranda in four games. As the first game of the night the courts were still quite warm, so the rallies were long and fast paced.

Miranda actually had game ball in both the first and second games but was unable to convert. Sharp seemed to be able to keep his composure a lot better in the critical points and found the mental edge in the latter part of each game.

Sharp now meets Arturo Salazar while Cesar, who beat compatriot Eric Tepos in straight games, faces the USA's Chris Gordon.

What an experience it was for local wildcard Omar Garcia from Cartagena to play with the USA top player Gordon. The crowd favourite had his opportunities and I am sure was a learning experience for him.

Egypt's Andrew Wagih was too talented for Frenchman Johan Bouquet tonight, showing the brilliance of the Egyptian skills flare, as he won in three games to set up another meeting with Colombian number one Miguel Angel Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, the second seed, took care of business in probably the fastest paced match of the evening. His opponent Peter Creed said after the match he was content to get on court and play all the way through since he had been on the injury list in Medellin and Bogota the last two weeks.
  

05-Sep, Qualifying Finals:
Qualifying complete in Cartagena
Maxim P. Weithers reports

Erik Tepos Valtierra (Mex) 3-0 Anderson Cardona (Col)
                       11-3, 12-10, 11-3 (38m)

Mexico's Erik Tepos  was just to accurate tonight against a determined local Anderson Cardona. In the second game Cadona actually had game ball at 10-9, but made a critical error to event the game.

Erik made no mistake to push though with 3 accurate shots to finish the game. Then closed out the match with an easy final game 11-3.

Johan Bouquet (Fra) 3-2 Thomas Brinkman (Can)
                      11-3, 5-11, 3-11, 11-6, 11-2 (57m)

The longest match of the night happened here. Thoman Brinkman played really well, making lots of precise volleys and deep length, however Frenchman Johan Bouquet had his own ideas and came through with consistent gets and pressure drops and drives to the back of the court.

We spoke to Brinkman after his match and confirmed that he was not feeling confident really. Before, during, or after his match. Even when he went up 2-1 he couldn't truly believe he could win. On the other hand Bouquet was the exact opposite. Happy and cheerful was more his mood.

Alfredo Avila (Mex) 3-1 Hernan D'Arcangelo (Arg)
                        11-7, 11 -5, 11-9, 11-04 (50m)

Another long match showing the racquet skills and control of the Mexican, Alfredo Avila, and showing that he was much taking a different approach, a state of happiness and felt he could relax more importantly was relaxed and pumped at the same time.

Gonzalo Miranda (Arg) 3-0 Josh Cardwell (Aus)
                         11-8, 11-8, 11-7 (40m)

Even though the rallies were hard fought, Gonzalo Miranda had too many answers to Josh Cardwell's excellent volley and retrieval skills.