Pett Powers To Cape Town Crown

The extraordinary squash career of Englishman Oliver Pett reached another milestone in South Africa today when the 25-year-old qualifier overturned top-seeded local hero Shaun le Roux in the final of the Keith Grainger Memorial UCT Open Squash Championship to win the third PSA World Tour title of his career - all of which he achieved unseeded!

The Sussex man, now based in Gosport in Hampshire, was competing in only his third event in three weeks following his return to the international circuit after taking a year off.

It was a straight games semi-final upset victory over Pakistan's No2 seed Tayyab Aslam that took Pett into the final of the PSA Challenger 5 event marking its second year at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town.

Cape Town-born Le Roux, the defending champion ranked 54 in the world, marched into the final - his third in succession on the PSA Tour and looking for his third win - after downing England's No4 seed Nathan Lake in four games.

"It was an epic final that was watched by a packed crowd of enthusiastic supporters," said tournament promoter Kerr Rogers. "The first game lasted 22 minutes with Oliver winning 11-9, followed by 11-5 and a nail biting 12-10 in the third with Shaun a few game points up not able to finish off the game.

"Credit to Oliver for remaining patient and forcing the error with intense pressure squash. Oliver gave an emotional response at the prize-giving, thanking various sponsors and friends for all their support over the past year, which has been the toughest one for him, with a special mention of his mother who is fighting cancer in England."

Pett's latest success follows his maiden Tour title triumph at the Windy City Open in Chicago, USA, in February 2011 - when he was also a qualifier, yet overturned both the top two seeds en-route to the title - and later in April the same year when he lifted the West of Ireland Open trophy, unseeded, after upsets over the No1 and No3 seeds.

The UCT Open was held in the memory of young squash player Keith Grainger, the brother of former world No1 Natalie Grainger, who died in 2001.