Scot Lobban Lifts First Tour Title On Home Soil

Second-seeded Scot Greg Lobban stormed to unexpected victory in the Trac Oil & Gas North Of Scotland Open in Aberdeen to claim his first PSA World Tour title on home soil.

The 22-year-old from Inverness reached the final of the PSA Challenger 10 squash event at Aberdeen Squash & Racketball Club without dropping a game - despatching Carlos Cornes Ribadas, the No.7 seed from Spain in the semi-finals to notch up his 12th career Tour final appearance.

His opponent in the final was Joel Hinds, the fifth seed from England who progressed two rounds beyond his seeding without meeting a higher-ranked player.

The 27-year-old from Birmingham also had to overcome an unexpected Spanish semi-finalist when he survived a five-game battle with Alejandro Garbi Caro, the unseeded 32-year-old from Valencia who removed top seed Eddie Charlton in the quarter-finals.

Edinburgh-based Lobban dropped his first game in the event in the final when Hinds recovered from losing the opening game to draw level.

But, spurred on by the partisan crowd, the Scot held his nerve to regain the upper hand in the next two games to close out the match 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9 after 82 minutes to record his breakthrough home title triumph.

"Thanks to my opponent Joel, it was a typical final, really tough rallies," said Lobban after increasing his Tour title tally to six. "Also many thanks to TRAC the sponsor, whose support is really appreciated.

"Finally, it's always nice to play on home soil and so really great to get a win in front of a home crowd."

Hinds, who suffered a minor altercation with the side wall during the match, added: "Not looking forward to the size of my nose in the morning!"