Report Courtesy of the Professional Squash Association
Canadian Shahier Razik, the number three seed, claimed the Squash Revolution National Capital Open title for the third time in his career after defeating Englishman Lewis Walters, the number four seed, 3-1 in a tense final at the Chevy Chase Athletics Club.
The thirty-six-year-old, who claimed the 2009 and 2010 titles, dominated the first game of the encounter winning 11-2 and followed it up to take the second 11-5, establishing a dominant-looking lead.
However, twenty-six-year-old Walters hit back with a tenacious performance in the third game, winning 11-4 and kept his hopes of victory alive, but there was no beating Razik, as the elder statesman redoubled his efforts to stop Walters’ resurgence and edged a close 11-9 win in the final game to take the title.
It was a final full of excitement and entertainment and was a fitting end to a tournament that had more than its fair share of shocks and upsets from day one – with some of the top seeds falling at the first hurdles.
Tournament favorite and number one seed Dane Sharp, the World No. 88, fell to unseeded Ashley Davies in a shock 3-0 defeat on the opening day with Davies’ performance belying his world ranking of 168 while Arthur Gaskin, the No. 2 seed, also bowed out on day one to unseeded opponent Ahmad Alzabidi – the World No. 229.
Alzabidi followed up his impressive first round performance with victory over fellow qualifier Baba Tunde Ajagbe, who earned his passage to the last eight courtesy of a walkover victory against Karamatullah Khan, in the quarter-finals before falling to Razik at the semi-final stage.
In their first career match-up, Chris Hanson, world No. 184 and qualifier, upset fellow American, Adrian Leanza, world No. 171 and sixth seed, in the first round of the Capital Open, to take the match in three games 11-7, 11-8, 11-1.
For more information, visit the National Capital Open tournament page.
National Capital Open Final Results:
[3] Shahier Razik (CAN) bt. [4] Lewis Walters (ENG) 11-2, 11-5, 4-11, 11-9