Paul Coll Beaten In China Open Final

New Zealand's Paul Coll has fallen short in the final of the gold status China Squash Open in Shanghai.

Multi Commonwealth Games medalist, Coll, the tournament fourth seed was defeated by sixth seed Mohamed Abouelghar of Egypt in straight games at the Peninsula Shanghai, which overlooks the famous Shanghai Bund.

Earlier Coll had beaten the top seed and world No.5, Simon Rosner (Germany) to make the final, however in the deciding match it was the Egyptian who was hitting the winners.

Coll’s best period of the match came in the third game when he built up an 8-6 lead but Abouelghar stayed focused mentally to come back and win the next five points in a row, sealing the win by an 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 margin in 44 minutes to claim a ninth PSA Tour title. “I expected before the match that it was going to be hard work, and if I wanted to have any chance against Paul I had to be patient and not go for shots as often as I would like. I think when I was sharp when I went short and I’m happy that it paid off,” said Abouelghar.

The next tournament for Coll is the platinum graded US Open in October in Philadelphia.

The US$120,00 China Open was the first PSA World Tour Gold tournament after the tier was introduced as part of the new PSA tour structure, which came into effect on 1 August 2018

China Open final, result:

[6] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt [4] Paul Coll (NZL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 (44m)