Tuominen Wins Historic Finnish Open Crown

Olli Tuominen battled for 93 minutes to beat Italian Davide Bianchetti in the final of the Savcor Finnish Open in Mikkeli to become the first Finn to win his country's men's Open title in the tournament's 30-year history.

Many of the world's leading players have won the Finnish Open trophy, including Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Rodney Martin and Rodney Eyles.

Top seed Tuominen had a poor start and dropped the first game. The 28-year-old from Helsinki fought back from 7-9 down in the second to draw level. In the third, Tuominen dominated and at one stage it looked as if Bianchetti was giving in.

However, the second seed from Brescia struck back in the fourth to force the match into a fifth game decider. By now, Tuominen was playing his best squash of the match and, after forcing the Italian into errors, took the match 9-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 9-11, 11-6.

"I played a lot better than in my previous matches," said Tuominen after the match. "I was happy to get the second game, as it's much better to be at one game all than two games down."

Bianchetti was pleased with the way he played: "Seems I always play five games with the Finns, and unfortunately often lose," said Bianchetti.

Final:
[1] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt [2] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 9-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 9-11, 11-6 (93m)