Aziz Celebrates Second PSA Title In Seven Days In Salzburg

Seven days after celebrating his maiden PSA Tour title at the Swiss Open in Geneva, Egypt's Omar Abdel Aziz maintained his winning ways across the border when he picked up the Salzburg Open trophy in Austria.

The 22-year-old fourth seed from Cairo beat Germany's sixth seed Andre Haschker to reach his second successive PSA final. His opponent, English qualifier Jonathan Harford, emerged triumphant in the other semi-final when he beat local star Aqeel Rehman, the unseeded tournament organiser, to claim his first appearance in a PSA Tour final.

Harford seemed nervous in the opening rallies of the match while Aziz played fast, attacking squash and soon overpowered his opponent to take the first game in just six minutes.

The higher-ranked Egyptian forged a 7-2 lead in the second game, but Leeds-based Harford, also 22, made a comeback but was unable to recover the deficit.

Harford began to assert himself in the third game and took his first lead in the match at 7-6, eventually reaching game-ball at 10-9. Aziz maintained his composure, however, and forced the game into a tie-break which he quickly won to claim his 11-3, 11-8, 11-10 (2-0) victory after 39 minutes.

Aziz expressed his gratitude to tournament organiser and fellow PSA player Aqeel Rehman "for his work to give the players an opportunity to play in this tournament."

The new Salzburg Open champion added: "And finally, I would like to thank god for my performance during the last week."

Final:
[4] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt [Q] Jonathan Harford (ENG) 11-3, 11-8, 11-10 (2-0) (39m)