|
|
Hibiscus Gardens Open 2011
29 Mar - 03 Apr, Brisbane,
Australia, $15k |
 |
|
|
03-Apr, Final:
South Africa’s Coppinger slays
Knight
 South African Stephen Coppinger justified his top billing
when he downed New Zealand’s Martin Knight in the final of
the Hibiscus Gardens Open squash tournament in Brisbane on Sunday.
The world number 39 from Cape Town won a high quality final 11-7,
7-11, 11-4, 11-8 to claim the seventh title of his career and his
second of the year.
Coppinger and Knight are separated by only 13 places on the world
rankings and they were evenly matched throughout the opening two
games.
However, Knight began to show signs of fatigue at the start of the
third and Coppinger took full advantage. He stepped up his attack at
the start of both the third and fourth games, seizing on his
opponent’s mistakes and racing away to big leads.
Knight fought hard but he was unable to make an impression and the
South African added the Brisbane title to the Finnish Open he won in
February.
“It was a really, really tough match so I was delighted to get
through,” the 26-year-old Coppinger said.
“I really had to regroup after the second and force myself to make
the pace, to get onto the T and to push him around the court rather
than the other way round.”
Coppinger said he realised Knight, who had a tough semi-final win on
Saturday, was tiring after the second game.
“We both put a massive effort into the second game - I sensed he was
tiring towards the end of that game, it’s easy when you are winning
the game to stay pumped up but after the rest between games, I think
it took its toll.”
Knight conceded he had lost concentration in the third game after
battling hard to get the final back on terms.
“I hung back and was trying to control the ball and play a more
controlled, accurate pace, but he was a bit more frantic and he was
able to cut the ball off and do a bit with it,” Knight said.
“I got back a little bit in the fourth, but my legs gave way – I was
tired.”
|
Press Cuts
TheSportCampus
Bernama (Malaysia)
The Sport Campus
Stuff Nz
Bernama
|
  Hibiscus
Gardens Open
29 Mar - 03 Apr, Brisbane,
$15k |
Round One
31 Mar |
Quarters
01 Apr |
Semis
02 Apr |
Final
03 Apr |
[1] Steve Coppinger (Rsa)
11-6, 11-4, 11-7
Choong Kam Hing (Mas) |
[1] Steve Coppinger
11-3, 11-7, 11-8 (37m)
Chris Truswell |
[1] Steve Coppinger
11-5, 11-3, 11-5
[3] Kamran Khan |
[1] Steve Coppinger
11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8
[2] Martin Knight |
Chris Truswell (Eng)
11-5, 16-14, 11-5
Alex Grayson (Nzl) |
Rex Hedrick (Aus)
11-5, 11-3, 11-3
Ben Takamizawa Harris (Jpn) |
Rex Hedrick
5-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 (78m)
[3] Kamran Khan |
[Q] Brad Freeme (Aus)
8-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-7
[3] Kamran Khan (Mas) |
[4] Mike Corren (Aus)
11-5, 11-5, 11-9
[Q] Jamie McErvale (Aus) |
[4] Mike Corren
11-8, 11-6, 11-9 (24m)
Fred Reid |
[4] Mike Corren
8-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-5
[2] Martin Knight |
Tyler Hamilton (Can)
12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10
Fred Reid (Can) |
[Q] Leo Au (Hkg)
7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-4
Nathan Stevenson (Aus) |
[Q] Leo Au
12-10, 11-4, 11-7 (42m)
[2] Martin Knight |
[Q] Sebastian Weenink (Ned)
8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6
[2] Martin Knight (Nzl) |
Qualifying Finals:
Brad Freeme (AUS) bt Sunil Seth (AUS)
9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8
Jamie McErvale (AUS) bt Alistair Cray (AUS)
6-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-9
Sebastian Weenink (NED) bt Nathan Turnbull (AUS)
9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5
Leo Au (HKG) bt Craig Rowland (AUS)
7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6
|
02-Apr:
Top seeds to battle for Brisbane titles
Top seeded South African
Stephen Coppinger will take on second ranked New Zealander
Martin Knight in the final of the Hibiscus Gardens Open squash
tournament in Brisbane after contrasting semi-final wins on
Saturday.
Coppinger looked in great touch as he saw off Malaysian Kamran
Khan 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 while Knight had to fight all the way
before outlasting veteran South Australian Mike Corren 8-11,
14-12, 11-8, 11-5.
Corren, who won the ACT Open in Canberra last Sunday, was left ruing
his lost opportunities when he had a number of chances to go 2/0 up.
“I had some game balls in the second game but he saved them,
then won the game himself – that was the difference,” Corren said.
“I’ve got no excuses – he played well and stuck to his game, while I
got stuck playing at one pace and couldn’t get forward.
“I think if I could have got that second game and gone two-love up
it would have been a different result.
“But he stayed on one level and my game dipped in the third and
fourth games.”
Earlier, Coppinger had taken advantage of some weariness from the
Malaysian to close out the first semi-final.
Khan won a marathon quarter-final against Melbourne’s Rex Hedrick on
Friday night and struggled to recover in time for his semi-final.
Coppinger, the world number 39 from Cape Town, has been in superb
form over the last 12 months and won the Finnish Open in February.
He and Knight have played once before, at the Hong Kong Open in
2009, the South African winning in four games.
The final will be held at 2pm on Sunday at the Hibiscus Gardens
sports complex in Brisbane.
|
|
01-Apr:
Khan Battles To Brisbane Semis
 Malaysia's
Kamran Khan recovered from two games down to beat local hope
Rex Hedrick in the Hibiscus Gardens Open to reach the semi-finals in
Upper Mount Gravatt, near Brisbane.
Khan, the 21-year-old third seed, had to dig deep to overcome
22-year-old Hedrick, from Melbourne, 5-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6
in 78 minutes.
"Kamran was down two sets to love, but his tenacious opponent Rex
Hedrick ran out of steam and couldn't keep the intensity up that he
showed in the first two games," explained tournament organiser
Jeffrey Wollstein.
Khan, ranked 82 in the world, will now face world No39 Stephen
Coppinger, the top seed from South Africa who despatched
England's Chris Truswell 11-3, 11-7, 11-8.
 There
will be Australian interest in the other semi-final where Mike
Corren takes on New Zealander Martin Knight.
Corren, the third seed from South Australia who won his sixth
successive PSA Tour title at the ACT Open in Canberra last week,
took only 24 minutes to quash Canadian Fred Reid 11-8, 11-6, 11-9.
Second seed Knight ended Leo Au's brave run, beating the Hong Kong
qualifier 12-10, 11-4, 11-7.
31-Mar, Round One:
Au continues winning ways in Brisbane
Hong Kong qualifier Leo Au continued his winning run when he upset
local favourite Nathan Stevenson in the first round of the Hibiscus
Gardens Open squash tournament t in Brisbane on Thursday.
Au, who won through two rounds of qualifying to make the main draw,
came back from losing the first game to win 7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-4
and move into a quarter-final clash against second seeded New
Zealander Martin Knight.
Knight had to fight hard to see off Dutch qualifier Sebastian
Weenink 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6,
South Africa’s top seed, Stephen Coppinger, cruised into the final
eight with an 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 win over Malaysian Choong Kam Hing,
however, the third ranked Kamran Khan was pushed all the way by
local qualifier Brad Freeme, the Malaysian eventually winning 8-11,
14-12, 11-8, 11-7.
Meanwhile, South Australian veteran Mike Corren, who last week won
his 33rd PSA title, ended the run of fellow Australian Jamie
McErvale 11-5, 11-5, 11-9.
Other winners were Melbourne’s Rex Hedrick, an 11-5, 11-3, 11-3
winner over Japan’s Ben Takamizawa Harris, Chris Truswell, who beat
Kiwi Alex Grayson 11-5, 16-14, 11-5 and Canada’s Fred Reid, who
upset fellow countryman Tyler Hamilton 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10.
|
Top seed Coppinger
|
|
