After taking the NetSuite Open title in San Francisco two weeks ago, Frenchman Greg Gaultier (le) was able to grab the next title as he beat Omar Mosaad (ri) in the Mexico final Frenchman Greg Gaultier (le) took the 22nd PSA World Tour squash title of his career at the inaugural Abierto Mexicano de Raquetas – but the Frenchman’s 21-minute victory over world No11 Omar Mosaad (ri) in Mexico was his quickest title triumph on record, by a significant margin!
The PSA International 70 championship is the biggest Tour event ever to be held in Mexico – and was staged in spectacular style on an all-glass court sited in the Plaza de los Martires in Toluca, overlooked by the city’s historic cathedral.
World No3 Gaultier reached the final – his third in a row on the Tour – in stunning form. After arriving in Mexico fresh from victory in the NetSuite Open in San Francisco, the 29-year-old from Aix-en-Provence conceded just two games en-route to the Toluca climax.
By contrast, Egyptian Mosaad was taken to five games in his two previous matches – 1st beating No2 seed Karim Darwish in a 64-minute quarter-final upset, then overcoming German No1 Simon Rosner in a 75-minute semi.
The experienced Gaultier clearly took full advantage – crushing the tall 24-year-old from Cairo 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 to extend his unbeaten run over Mosaad to four wins in 30 months.
Over the past 11 years, Gaultier has won PSA Tour titles all over the globe, from home soil in France through to the USA, Qatar, Pakistan, Macau and now Mexico. At least ten of his final victories have taken more than an hour – one recorded at 84 minutes – but his Toluca triumph is the first achieved in less than half an hour!
Final:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Omar Mosaad (EGY) 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 (21m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [4] Peter Barker (ENG) 11-1, 11-4, 11-1 (37m)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 (75m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) 7-11, 11-5, 13-11, 11-4 (76m)
[4] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, 11-6 (50m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt Borja Golan (ESP) 11-7, 5-11, 12-10, 12-10 (64m)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [2] Karim Darwish (EGY) 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 2-11, 12-10 (64m)
1st round:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-1, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9 (72m)
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 11-8, 11-9, 11-4 (34m)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [Q] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 18-16, 11-5, 7-11, 13-15, 11-3 (60m)
[4] Peter Barker (ENG) bt [Q] Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY) 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-4 (61m)
Borja Golan (ESP) bt [3] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 6-3 ret. (39m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt [Q] Chris Simpson (ENG) 11-13, 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7 (70m)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Alfredo Avila (MEX) 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 (49m)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Alister Walker (BOT) 11-5, 12-10, 13-11 (35m)
