Iqbal & Kandra to Contest St. Louis Final

Kandra v al tamimi

Article courtesy of the Professional Squash Association.

Nasir Iqbal and Raphael Kandra – who contested 11 PSA World Tour finals between them last year – will meet in the climax of the Emerson Racquet Club Pro Series after semi-final successes in the PSA Challenger 10 squash event at The Racquet Club in St Louis, Missouri – the first event of the 2014 US Pro Squash Series.

Kandra, the No.2 seed from Germany, needed almost an hour to quash Qatar teenager Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi, the fourth seed – fighting back from 3-7 down in the final game to win 11-7, 12-10, 6-11, 11-9.

The twenty-three-year-old from Essen is celebrating the tenth Tour title of his career – after making six of them in 2013, with title triumphs in three.

Iqbal, the top seed from Pakistan also battled through to the tenth Tour final of his career when he defeated third-seeded Mexican Arturo Salazar 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 in just thirty minutes.

It was a match described as a “chopping” by the club’s Head Pro Michael Puertas.

Iqbal, the nineteen-year-old World No. 53 from Bannu, notched up five Tour final appearances last year – and will be meeting Kandra for the first time ever.

Semi-finals:
[2] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [4] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) 11-7, 12-10, 6-11, 11-9 (58m)
[1] Nasir Iqbal (PAK) bt [3] Arturo Salazar (MEX) 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 (30m)