[2] Adrian Grant (Eng) 3-2 [4] Mathieu Castagnet (Fra)  
           6/11, 11/8, 11/13, 15/13, 13/11 (132m)

Grant claims Double AR Rotterdam Open title

England’s Adrian Grant secured the 19th PSA World Tour title of his career on Sunday by winning the Double AR Rotterdam Open Squash 2013 in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

The 32-year old London based player beat surprising finalist Mathieu Castagnet in a brutal and extremely long two-hour plus final of the new PSA Challenger 15 championship in the Netherlands, which went right down to the wire in front of a capacity-crowd at the centre court of Victoria Squash, which also hosted the combined Men’s & Women’s World Squash Championships in 2011.

Castagnet took the first with ease, but the Englishmen levelled after around 30 minutes of play. Grant looked set to go 2-1 up at 10-6 in the third, but the French international fought back and unexpectedly took the lead.

The world number 28 from Aix-en-Provence continued his good form in the fourth to reach match ball at 10-7, but this time it was Grant’s turn to come back and sneak the game in extra points.

The fifth and final game saw another great turnaround with Castagnet fighting back from 0-7 down to 8-8, before Grant regrouped to reach match ball at 10-8.

Yet again Castagnet fought back, but Grant finally clinched the title on his fourth match ball after 132 minutes of intense and high-quality squash: 6/11, 11/8, 11/13, 15/13, 13/11.

“It’s great to win the title here, in particular after such an intense match. At the end it was a lottery and I am really glad that I managed to sneak the win”, said the newly crowned champion.

“I want to thank Neeraj and Tommy for putting on this event, and of course my personal sponsor Double AR, and the city of Rotterdam for supporting it.”

Tournament promoter Neeraj Aggarwal added: “It was a fantastic and fitting end to this championship. The athleticism and determination Adrian and Mathieu displayed, showed yet again that squash deserves to be an Olympic sport.

"The effort they put in was simply incredible. From an event perspective I can’t be more happier either with the great matches and crowds we have had all week.”

Preview

Today's crowd at Victoria Squash may be a little disappointed not to be seeing their own Laurens Jan Anjema in action, but they're still in for a treat in the final of the Double AR Rotterdam Open.

Double AR player Adrian Grant, the left-handed 32-year-old, world ranked #24 Englishman, is appearing in his 30th PSA final and is hoping to claim his 19th title.

His opponent, who beat LJ in straight games in yesterday's semi-finals, is 26-year-old Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet, the world #31 who will be playing his 6th PSA final and looking to raise his 2nd trophy.

The head-to-head favours the Englishman, but his two wins - 2007 in the Wolverhampton Open and 2010 in the English Premier League - don't really give much of a clue as to what will happen this afternoon in Rotterdam ...