Rehman Rallies To Christchurch Crown

Austrian Aqeel Rehman upset top seed Jan Koukal in the final of the Doubledot Media Christchurch International Open, the PSA World Tour Challenger 5 squash event in its third year in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Seeded three, Rehman made his breakthrough in the semi-finals at Burnside Squash Club when he fought back from two games down to end the giant-killing run of local qualifier Kashif Shuja, the former World No.36 who had dismissed second-seeded Australian veteran Mike Corren in the previous round.

Now in a surprise fourth PSA Tour final of his career, the 28-year-old from Salzburg faced favourite Koukal, the in-form Czech star who was celebrating his fifth Tour final of the year and arrived in Christchurch after picking up his 30th career title last month at the City of Perth WA Open in Australia.

"Koukal, forced by a forearm tendon injury to play a style of game relying heavily on drops, lobs, guile and other generally gentle strokes, was effective in the opening exchanges," reported event spokesman Antony Liken. "His ability to find height and width with the shiny new Dunlop when lobbing, and to navigate around the cracks at the front of the court when dropping, meant there was little Rehman could do to prevent him taking a 1/0 lead."

But the UK-based Austrian, ranked 93 in the world, regained the initiative to close out the match 7-11, 11-9, 11-1, 11-5 after 42 minutes to record his first ever victory over European rival Koukal, the World No.62.

The title triumph marks the third PSA Tour title of Rehman's career - but his first for more than a year.