Assore Central Gauteng Open 2016
16-22 Apr, Johannesburg, South Africa, $5k

22-Apr, Finals:

[5] Rowan Elaraby (Egy) 3-0 [2] Milnay Louw (Rsa)
              11/7, 11/5, 11/9 (30m)
[3] Leandro Romiglio (Arg) 3-2 [2] Aqeel Rehman (Aut)
              9/11, 11/4, 7/11, 11/4, 20/18 (92m)

Two great finals at Parkview  ...

The finals of the Balwin Assore Gauteng Open were well contested and had the crowd in awe.

First up were the ladies. For the first time during the tournament Rowan Elaraby was made to rally and work for her points. Elaraby kept to her game plan and kept the ball deep and tight. As soon as Milnay Louw hit the ball short Elaraby was onto it quickly and either played a deadly drop or low hard cross court that just put Louw under too much pressure. Louw said, “Rowan was just more consistent than me and I made too many mistakes instead of waiting out the rally.”

Elaraby was thrilled to win her first PSA event and was happy with the her performance on the day. “The game was not easy and I felt it was very quick. I am very happy that I won and am looking forward to my next event in Cape Town,” said Elaraby.

The men’s final was a spectacular display of squash with the game see-sawing between the two players. After the first game Aqeel Rehman looked very tired and the crowd seemed to think that it was going to sway towards Leandro Romiglio as he won the second fairly convincingly. Reham was not going to lie down so easily and found some magic energy from within to once again put Romiglio under pressure and went 2-1 ahead.

After a tight start to the fourth Romiglio hit some tight lengths and great nick shots to even the match at 2 each. If anyone had placed money on this match they would have been sitting on the edge of their seats right until the last point.

Both players had five match balls each with the advantage going backwards and forward.

Both players played amazing shots to either even the score or to go match ball ahead. They also both made crucial mistakes at the last minute giving away the hard earned advantage. Eventually after a crowd pleasing performance Romiglio won the match 20-18.

As everyone said it was sad that there had to be a winner and both players played the match with fantastic sportsmanship and professionalism expected of an international squash player.
 

 TAGS :  2015 Event | Central Gauteng | South Africa | Search

18-Apr, Round One:

[1] Shehab Essam (Egy) 3-1 Ruan Olivier (Rsa)              7/11, 11/8, 11/5, 11/3 (44m)
[Q] Craig van der Wath (Rsa) 3-0 Andrew Forrest (Nam)          11/9, 11/5, 11/5 (28m)
Gareth Naidoo (Rsa) 3-2 [wc] Kyle Maree (Rsa)   11/8, 11/8, 10/12, 2/11, 12/10 (62m)
[Q] Makoshonke Ntuli (Rsa) 3-0 [7] Jean-Pierre Brits (Rsa)      11/4, 11/7, 11/3 (24m)

[8] Christo Potgieter (Rsa) 3-0 Ahmed Al Kiremli (Irq)              11/9, 11/4, 11/6 (29m)
Devon Hendrikse (Rsa) 3-0 Wayne Sithole (Rsa)                     11/5, 11/8, 11/1 (22m)
[Q] Zuko Kubukeli (Rsa) 3-2 Moses Durosinmi (Ngr) 11/8, 4/11, 9/11, 11/7, 11/8 (51m)
[3] Leandro Romiglio (Arg) 3-0 Adewale Amao (Ngr)                11/5, 11/6, 11/6 (43m)

Ahmed Ashoush (Egy) 3-2 [4] Matthew Serediak (Can) 7/11,11/9,7/11,11/3,11/9 (61m)
Andrew Martin (Rsa) 3-1 [Q] Garren Kent (Rsa)            10/12, 11/2, 11/7, 118/ (26m)
[Q] Dylan Groenwald (Rsa) w/o Omar Bahgat (Egy)
[5] Mark Broekman (Eng) 3-0 Ahmad Al-Mudhaf (Kuw)            11/1, 11/5, 11/4 (30m)

Vincent Droesbeke (Fra) 3-0 [6] Ben Coates (Eng)               11/3, 11/5, 11/2 (22m)
SeungYong Yoo (Kor) 3-1 [Q] Jarryd Carter (Rsa)       11/5, 13/11, 5/11, 11/8 (38m)
Hesham Mohamed Aly (Egy) 3-0 [Q] Callan Hall (Rsa)            11/7, 11/0, 11/1 (24m)
[2] Aqeel Rehman (Aut) 3-0 [Q] Zwelake Makgalemele (Rsa)   11/3, 11/6, 11/4 (21m)

Qualifying:
Zuko Kubukeli (SA – WP) bt Ray Dlamini (SA – Gau)                         11/4, 11/6, 11/6
Craig vd Wath (SA- East) bt Bradd Lodge (SA – Gau)                      11/7, 11/9, 11/5
Dylan Groenewald (SA-East) bt Cyal Eigenmann (SA – Gau)              11/9, 11/7, 11/4
Jarryd Carter (SA – Gau) bt Mike Veliades (SA – Gau)              11/6, 11/9, 7/11, 11/2
Garren Kent (SA – Gau) bt Jason Byrne (SA – Border)                    11/4, 11/9, 12/10
Zwelake Makgalemele (SA- Gau) bt Mikael Clayton (SA N ) 11/6, 11/2, 6/11, 4/11, 11/5
Callan Hall (SA – North) bt Grant Woodward (SA – Gau)                    11/9, 11/6, 11/7
Makoshonke Ntuli (SA – Gau) bt Zandra Botha (SA – Gau)                12/10, 11/9, 11/5

Qualifying:
Megan Page (SA – North) bt Nono Sekhoto (SA – Gau)      11/2, 11/4, 11/7
Mariske Wiese (SA – Gau) bt Cathy Bothma (SA – East)     11/7, 11/9, 11/8
Robyn Boy (SA – Gau) bt Panashe Sithole (SA – Gau)                walk over
Cassey Preece (SA – Gau) bt Pam Lerm (SA – East)      12/10, 13/11, 11/4

Quarter-Finals at Parkview

The Quarter finals of the Mens Balwin Assore Gauteng Open saw some top squash being played and most matches going to 3-2 in the men’s section.

Essam number 1 seed had to keep his focus throughout his match with JP Brits fighting for every point. At one stage Essam looked extremely tired and looked like he was going to succumb to the altitude but dug in and clawed his way back into the match winning the 4th 13 /11 and eventually taking the 5th 11/9.

Dylan Groenewald made the comeback of the night after being 2 nil down, he ran and retrieved everything until eventually Ashoush could run no more.

“I made too many errors in the first 2 games but then re-focused and started playing my game. I think that this made the difference in the 3rd and 4th and I started concentrating a lot better and did not let Ahmed’s antics get into my head. I am really looking forward to playing Aqueel tomorrow and hope to give him as good a match as he had today,” said Groenewald.

Rehman maintained his cool composure and even though he was 2-1 down in games made the rallies long and hard and made Droesbeke work for every point. Eventually Rehman’s experience saw him take the 5th 11/6.

The 14year old Rowan Elaraby played well constructed and very mature squash for such a young campaigner on the PSA circuit. Her length and speed to the ball put number 1 seed Cheyna Tucker under extreme pressure from the first point. Tucker never got into the game and Elaraby got more confident as the match progressed.

All other seeds in the woman’s section were uncontested.

Matches on Thursday 20 April start at 16:00 at Parkview Squash Centre.