Knight Wins Maiden Tour Title At Barossa Valley

New Zealand's Martin Knight justified his top seeding when he beat Australian Zac Alexander in today's final of the Barossa Valley Open squash tournament in the South Australian town of Tanunda.

The Kiwi took the first two games and appeared to be heading for an easy victory before Queenslander Alexander, a 19-year-old scholarship holder with the Australian Institute of Sport, stormed back to take the next two and send the match into a decider.

But the 24-year-old from Wellington steadied and took the fifth to clinch his maiden PSA Tour title 11-9, 11-2, 10-11 (0-2), 7-11, 11-8 in 79 minutes.

"I was travelling well when I won the first two games but he changed his tactics, straightened the play up and came back well," Knight said. "Plus I made some mistakes in the third which let him back into it."

Knight was 4-5 down in the decider before rallying to get to 10-5. He hit his first match ball into the tin and on the next point his racket broke in two places as he played a shot, with the momentum swinging back to Alexander.

"Things changed and Zac came right back into it," Knight said. "Then at 10-8 I was fortunate to be awarded a stroke to win the match, because I didn't know where my next point was coming from. It was a definite stroke and I felt a bit guilty about it ... but not guilty enough not to take it."

Alexander, who won his first PSA tournament in Malaysia last month, had no complaints about the result. "I'm really happy with the way I went here," he said. "If anything I played better here than I did in Malaysia. I only warmed up after the first two games but then I got into my rhythm and played really well."

Final:
[1] Martin Knight (NZL) bt [2] Zac Alexander (AUS) 11-9, 11-2, 10-11 (0-2), 7-11, 11-8 (79m)