Knight Conquers Karwalski For NZ Classic Crown

Home hero Martin Knight proved too strong for Australian opponent Matthew Karwalski in today's final of the Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers New Zealand International Squash Classic in Palmerston North, winning in straight games to claim the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 title at SquashGym after finishing as runner-up last year.

The top-seeded Kiwi was dominant throughout, racing away to a 7-1 lead over second seed Karwalski in the first game before taking it for the loss of just three points.

"The second game followed much the same pattern as the first," reported event spokesman Mike Williams. "Knight raced away to a 4-0 lead with Karwalski making more errors, particularly on the backhand side due to Knight's pressure. At 5-1, the pair played a huge rally which resulted in Knight hitting a superb forehand winner which seemed to break Karwalski's spirit.

"Knight then powered on to an 8-1 lead in the game. A mini fight back from Karwalski was too little too late as Knight took the game 11-5 in 13 minutes."

Knight went on to close out the match 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 in 40 minutes to notch up the sixth PSA Tour title of his career - and his second on home soil.

"I didn't think the score line would read that easy and the match was tougher than it looked," said the 30-year-old from North Shore later. "I was really happy with how I played and I made very few mistakes.

"I was able to build good pressure which ultimately led to Matt making some errors," added the New Zealand No2, ranked 49 in the world. "We had contrasting routes to the final and winning my match in three yesterday against Paul (Coll) was key to keeping enough energy in the tank for today."