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Global Relocations Israel Open 2014
19-22
Feb, Ra'anana, $5k |
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Final:
[1] Kristian Frost (Den) 3-0
[6] Christophe Andre (Fra)
11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (68m)
9th PSA title for Frost
Frost takes inaugural Israel title
Arthur Caplan reports
 Kristian
Frost of Denmark justified his #1 seeding at the Global
Relocations Israel Open 2014 by defeating sixth seed, Christophe
Andre from France, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 in a close and tightly
fought final that took just under 70 minutes.
Both players led marginally in the opening game. After 4-2 to Andre,
Frost led 5-4 and 7-6 and then three in a row enabled Frost to close
out at 11-7 after 30 minutes.
In the second game Frost benefited from too many errors by his
opponent and won it convincingly 11-5 after a further 20 minutes.
The third, like the first, was close from the start. Andre led 2-1,
3-2, 4-3 and 6-4 before Frost put on the pressure taking 4 points in
succession to lead 8-6. This run was followed by another point to
Andre and 2 more for Frost who thus reached match point at 10-7.
Andre saved one but another error gave Frost victory and the title
after 68 minutes of fast pace squash.
The match was watched by a full stand of spectators whose lengthy
applause for the players showed how much they appreciated the high
standard displayed on court.
Both players expressed their thanks to the spectators, the promoter
and the organizers, and the wish that there will be a repeat
tournament next year.
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  Israel
Open 2014
19-22
Feb, Ra'anana, $5k |
Round One
20 Feb |
Quarters
20 Feb |
Semis
21 Feb |
Final
22 Feb |
[1] Kristian Frost (Den)
11-9, 11-6, 11-8
[Q] Rui Soares (Por) |
[1] Kristian Frost
118-, 11-2, 11-7 (48m)
[8] Ollie Holland |
[1] Kristian Frost
9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-3 (82m)
[4] Tom Ford |
9th PSA title for
Frost [1] Kristian Frost
11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (68m)
[6] Christophe Andre |
[Q] George Parker (Eng)
11-7, 11-3, 11-8
[8] Ollie Holland (Eng) |
[7] Wojtek Nowisz (Pol)
11-7, 11-4, 11-5
[Q] David Haley (Wal) |
[Q] David Haley
11/7, 11/8, 11/1 (43m)
[4] Tom Ford |
[WC] Roee Avraham (Isr)
11-3, 11-6, 11-3
[4] Tom Ford (Eng) |
[3] Geoffrey Demont (Fra)
11-3, 11-9, 11-7
Anthony Brindle (Gib) |
[3] Geoffrey Demont
11/8, 11/8, 11/9 (42m)
[Q] Bart Ravelli |
[3] Geoffrey Demont
11-8, 11-6, 11-1 (42m)
[6] Christophe Andre |
[Q] Bart Ravelli (Ned)
11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3
[5] Daniel Poleshchuk (Isr) |
[6] Christophe Andre (Fra)
11-7, 11-3, 11-3
Claudio Pinto (Por) |
[6] Christophe Andre
11/4, 6/11, 11/5, 11/9 (63m)
[2] Aqeel Rehman |
Phillip Bull (Eng)
11-4, 11-7, 11-3
[2] Aqeel Rehman (Aut) |
19-Feb, Qualifying Finals:
[1] Rui Soares (Por) 3-1 [7]
Sam Ellis (Eng)
11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 13-11 (44m)
[4] George Parker (Eng) 3-1 Ori Elimelech (Isr)
11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6 (39m)
[8] Bart Ravelli (Ned) 3-0 [3] Paul Rawden (Eng)
11-8, 11-9, 11-9 (48m)
[6] David Haley (Wal) 3-0 [2] Jakob Dirnberger (Aut)
13-11, 12-10, 11-6 (38m)
19-Feb: Qualifying Round One:
[1] Rui Soares (Por)3-2 Ido Avron (Isr)
9-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-3, 11-3 (37m)
[7] Sam Ellis (Eng) 3-0 Nir Zisman (Isr)
11-6, 11-6, 12-10 (31m)
Ori Elimelech (Isr) 3-1 [5] Xavier Blasco (Esp)
13-11, 3-11, 11-2, 11-7 (58m)
[4] George Parker (Eng) 3-1 Dovi Haruzi (Isr)
11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4 (41m)
[3] Paul Rawden (Eng) 3-0 Nadav Raziel (Isr)
11-3, 11-3, 11-6 (18m)
[8] Bart Ravelli (Ned) 3-0 Noam Peer (Isr)
11-4, 11-2, 11-4 (13m)
[6] David Haley (Wal) 3-0 Nadav Wilensky (Isr)
11-9, 11-4, 14-12 (28m)
[2] Jakob Dirnberger (Aut) 3-0 Jonathan Kovac (Irs)
11-7, 11-4, 11-5 (23m)
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Frost and Andre through to final
Arthur Caplan reports
Qualifying:
Although the eight local players in the opening round of the
qualifying draw of Israel’s first ever PSA tournament included three
former national champions, the visiting professionals were too
strong for seven of their opponents..
Dovi Haruzi, nowadays a seeded 40+ player in European masters
tournaments, fell to George Parker in 4. Parker, who arrived a
little under the weather, was deceived by Israel’s hot and sunny
climate and didn’t help his health by imbibing an excess of vitamin
C in its natural form.
Nevertheless, his natural fitness was sufficient to beat his much
older second round opponent, Ori Elimelech, a member of
Israel’s national team that was promoted to group B at the last
European Team Championships, and the only local to win in the first
round.
Ido Avron, who played several PSA tournaments in the past,
was 2-1 up against Spain’s Rui Soares but succumbed to his younger
opponent.
Nadav Wilensky, one of the former national champions and,
like Haruzi, now a full time coach, showed plenty of skill against
David Haley but couldn’t match him for fitness.
Nadav Raziel, only 16 and ranked 13 in the ESF U17 Category
showed promise but was unable to make headway against his older and
more experienced opponent, Paul Rawden.
Soares, Bart Ravelli and David Haley joined Parker in the main draw,
defeating Sam Ellis, Rawden and Jakob Dirnberger, respectively.
Round One:
Round one of the main draw saw 3-0 victories for the two Frenchmen,
Christophe Andre (6) over Claudio Pinto and Geoffrey Demont (3) over
Anthony Brindle. Similar scores were recorded by Aqeel Rehman (2)
against Phillip Bull, David Haley over Wojtek Nowisz (7), Kristian
Frost (1) over Soares and Ollie Holland (8) against a below par
Parker.
Israel’s hopes in the tournament were also dashed in the opening
round. Daniel Poleshchuk showed why he is ranked #1 in the
ESF U19 age group but lacked patience in his match against Ravelli
and lost 3-1. Roee Avraham, also an U19 junior and the
tournament wild card, was unable to progress further and lost to Tom
Ford (4).
Quarters & Semis:
The quarters saw the first major upset. Andre defeated the number 2
seed, Aqeel Rehmen 3-1 and in the semis met his fellow countryman,
Demont, who defeated Ravelli 3-0.
Frost and Ford met in the other semi, following 3-0 victories
against Holland and Haley.
Andre’s consistency overcame Demont in the first semi final. After a
close first game in which they were level until 7 all Andre closed
out at 11-8. The second game was less even and after 3-3 Andre
pulled away to win 11-6.
The next game belonged to Andre as Demont’s errors followed one
after the other. Demont’s only point came from Andre’s forehand into
the tin when he was leading 10-0.
Top seed Frost will be Andre’s opponent in the final. Frost’s match
against Tom Ford was close and tense throughout its 60 plus minutes.
The first game saw the lead pass from one player to the other until
at 9-9 it was Ford who took the next two points and a 1-0 lead. The
next game saw Ford 7-2 ahead until Frost caught up to 7 all. Ford
won the next point but Frost took the next four to win 11-8 and even
the score at 1-1.
The third game was almost a repeat of the previous one. Ford led 8-5
only to see Frost take six in a row, win the game 11-8 and lead 2-1.
The fourth game became the final one as a disheartened Ford scored
only three points before Frost claimed victory and a place in the
final
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