Rooney Celebrates Maiden PSA Title In Historic Salzburg Open

Irishman John Rooney celebrated his PSA Tour title debut in the historic Austrian city of Salzburg after beating fellow qualifier Ricky Davies in the final of the Salzburg Open.

The Satellite PSA event lived up to its staging in the city famed as the birthplace of Mozart by creating its own place in squash history. For the first time on the Tour, all four qualifiers made it through to the semi-finals - after the two seeded players who survived the first round were ousted in the quarter-finals!

Galway-born 27-year-old Rooney beat his English Premier League St George's Hill team-mate Joe Lee in straight games in the semi-finals to reach the final without dropping a game.

Davies, however, had battled through an 85-minute quarter-final before securing a four-game win in 55 minutes over Denmark's Morten W Sorensen in the other semi-final.

At the beginning of the opening game of the final, the rallies were close and level, but from the middle of the game it was Rooney who took control and dominated his opponent.

It was one-way traffic thereafter as the Irishman stormed to his 11-6, 11-2, 11-2 victory to secure his first international Tour title.

"Ricky looked to be tired after his marathon match yesterday while John let him work hard again, but Ricky could not stand the pressure and after just 26 minutes the final was over," said tournament organiser Aqeel Rehman.

Final:
[Q] John Rooney (IRL) bt [Q] Ricky Davies (WAL) 11-6, 11-2, 11-2 (26m)