Finitsis & Camilleri Celebrate Aussie Double In Queensland Open

Australians Steve Finitsis and Lisa Camilleri took the spoils in the Rock Building Society Queensland Squash Open at Scottvale Park Squash Centre in Rockhampton, Australia.

Queenslander Steve Finitsis justified his top billing in the men's $3,500 PSA World Tour event when he won the title for the first time after a straight games win over Denmark's Rasmus Nielsen.

Finitsis went into the tournament as the highest ranked and most experienced player and it showed as he downed Nielsen 11-2, 11-7, 11-7.

He had earlier accounted for Swiss player Reiko Peter in the semi-finals 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 while Nielsen ended the giant-killing run of 19-year-old Queenslander Sunil Seth 11-6, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5.

"It's a good feeling to win my home state open," the 27-year-old Finitsis said. "I was runner-up in 2007, but when you look at the previous winners of the Queensland Open, to have my name alongside those players is pretty special."

Finitsis moved to the Dutch city of Almere 18 months ago and said his game had developed enormously in that time.

"I've learned a lot and progressed so much, and even though my ranking (72) is not the best at the moment, the European tour can be quite difficult," he said. "In my last three tournaments I have lost early round matches in five games. If I had won those, my ranking would be a lot higher.

"But I'm hitting the ball with a lot more purpose and I'm a lot more composed during my matches," added Finitsis, after his first Tour win of the year, but the seventh of his career.

Lisa Camilleri made it a Far North Queensland double when she came from two games down to beat South Korea's Song Sun-Mi 7-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 in the final of the women's $4,000 WISPA World Tour event.

Camilleri, the second seed from Tully, celebrated her selection in the Australian Commonwealth Games team with her seventh title in succession and her 13th overall.

Unbeaten now for 27 matches, the 27-year-old world No39 has a 10-day break before her Australian Open first round clash against Ireland's Aisling Blake.