Ball Bounces To Exeter Success

England's Bradley Ball fulfilled his seeding in the Devon & Exeter Open when he beat third seed Chris Ryder in today's all-English final of the inaugural PSA Tour event at Devon & Exeter Club in Exeter, in the English county of Devon.

The success brings Ball's PSA Tour trophy haul to 14, thus overtaking world No15 Adrian Grant as the current touring Englishman with the most international professional titles!

The 30-year-old top seed from Ipswich reached the final after beating fourth seed Jonathan Harford, also an Englishman, in straight games in the semi-finals.

Ryder, the World Universities champion from Wolverhampton, battled for more than an hour in the other semi to overcome France's No7 seed Mathieu Castagnet 10-11 (2-4), 5-11, 11-0, 11-2, 11-2.

But Ball, ranked 34 in the world, was too strong for Ryder - the 26-year-old in his tenth Tour final - winning 11-8, 11-9, 11-6.

"I'm delighted to have won this tournament - it's been a great week," said Ball afterwards. "From a player's point of view, it's nice to see a new venue hosting a PSA event.

"Chris played very well and was well up in the second. I had to dig deep and was pleased to sneak that one. If it had gone to one-all, it could have been different."

Final:
[1] Bradley Ball (ENG) bt [3] Chris Ryder (ENG) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6