Salazar Stuns Koukal For Salt Lake City Title
Fifth-seeded Mexican Cesar Salazar twice upset the form book to win the inaugural Zantrex-3 International at Squashworks in Salt Lake City, USA.
The 22-year-old from San Luis Potosi made his breakthrough in the quarter-finals of the $10,000 PSA World Tour squash event, where he upset top-seeded Italian Stephane Galifi in five games.
Salazar faced second seed Jan Koukal in the final, and battled for 82 minutes to overcome the Czech number one 11-9, 11-8, 2-11, 10-12, 11-8 to secure his maiden PSA Tour title.
RESULTS: Zantrex-3 Squash International, Salt Lake City, USA
1st round:
[1] Stephane Galifi (ITA) bt Peter Creed (WAL) 11-7, 11-13, 11-9, 11-5 (44m)
[5] Cesar Salazar (MEX) bt [Q] Adam Murrills (ENG) 11-6, 11-5, 11-2 (27m)
[4] Bernardo Samper (COL) bt Jens Schoor (GER) 11-13, 11-6, 11-5, 12-10 (37m)
[7] Max Lee (HKG) bt [Q] Lekgotla Mosope (BOT) 11-7, 11-7, 10-12, 4-11, 11-8 (75m)
[6] Christopher Gordon (USA) bt Erik Tepos Valtierra (MEX) 11-13, 11-4, 13-11, 11-5 (55m)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt [3] Scott Arnold (AUS) 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (61m)
[Q] Manoel Pereira (BRA) bt [8] Dick Lau (HKG) 12-10, 3-11, 11-9, 14-12 (56m)
[2] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [Q] Alfredo Avila (MEX) 11-5, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3 (44m)
Quarter-finals:
[5] Cesar Salazar (MEX) bt [1] Stephane Galifi (ITA) 5-11, 11-4, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6 (71m)
[7] Max Lee (HKG) bt [4] Bernardo Samper (COL) 11-8, 16-18, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8 (70m)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt [6] Christopher Gordon (USA) 11-4, 11-9, 11-3 (27m)
[2] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [Q] Manoel Pereira (BRA) 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 (33m)
Semi-finals:
[5] Cesar Salazar (MEX) bt [7] Max Lee (HKG) 11-5, 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-4 (60m)
[2] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt Gregoire Marche (FRA) 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 (45m)
Final:
[5] Cesar Salazar (MEX) bt [2] Jan Koukal (CZE) 11-9, 11-8, 2-11, 10-12, 11-8 (82m)
