Twenty-four-year-old Englishman Ben Coleman fought off five consecutive game balls in the fifth game down 10-5 against New Zealand’s Martin Knight to win the $10,000 U.S. Pro Series Wasatch Funds Salt Lake City Open title Friday night at SquashWorks.
Coleman, world No. 63, defeated Knight, world No. 72, 11-3, 8-11, 12-10, 2-11, 13-11, in eighty-eight minutes to win his sixth career PSA title, and second U.S. Pro Series title of 2015 adding to his Atlanta Open title in February.
“Very happy to win the tournament,” Coleman said afterwards. “The final itself was tough out there. Martin played really well. I knew he’d be fresh for the final after I had the tougher semifinal. I left everything out there tonight, and I’m just happy that I came away with the win of course.
“Maybe it was just my day. From 10-5 you win a couple of points, then you get to 7-10, 8-10, and all of a sudden I’m thinking that I’m going to win. Which sounds crazy, but I guess that’s just the way squash goes. I’m sure Martin will be disappointed. I came here to win the tournament, and proud to accomplish that.”
Coleman hopes to continue climbing the world rankings now boosted by another PSA title.
“It’s tough. Squash can be an amazing place, but it can be a quite lonely place at times. He’ll be disappointed for sure. He’ll bounce back. From my point of view, I’m looking to push on even more now.”
“I want to thank everyone at the club. I don’t know how many people turned out for the final, but a lot turned out, and the crowd was fantastic. It was a pleasure to play in front of them and all week it’s been great for me. I’m happy to win in front of such a great crowd and some good people.”
To view an image gallery of the final and the entire tournament by Morgan Leigh, click here.