Castagnet Captures Canary Wharf Classic Crown

Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet became the first non-English winner of the iconic Canary Wharf Classic title since 2009 after upsetting top-seeded Egyptian Omar Mosaad after a gruelling 83-minute final of the PSA M70 event at the East Wintergarden in London.

The triumph marks the third - and biggest - PSA World Tour title of the 29-year-old from Aix-en-Provence's career

World No.10 Castagnet downed four-time winner James Willstrop and world No.12 Cameron Pilley en-route to the final where he played with grit, determination and great skill to gain revenge for his quarter-final defeat to Mosaad just two weeks ago in the 2016 Windy City Open.

In what was his ninth PSA final Castagnet began in impressive fashion, storming to a 6-2 lead in the first game only to see Mosaad mount a resurgence to take the next nine points unanswered and take a 1/0 game lead.

Lightening looked like it would strike again in the second when, after going 6-1 up, Castagnet once again saw his lead cut to just two points. But he held his nerve to press ahead and level the scoreboard. With confidence restored, the French No.2 enjoyed control of proceedings from that point onwards, seeing out the match 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 after a whirlwind four days in London that saw him spend over 250 minutes on court.

"I can't believe I have won this title tonight," said Castagnet. "This is such a prestigious tournament and to put my name on the trophy with players like Thierry Lincou, James Willstrop and Nick Matthew - some of the best players in the world - is a great pleasure for me and a huge achievement.

"Omar and I had a great battle in Chicago a few weeks ago when he won 3/1 - but today it was my turn. I tried to be more aggressive and play to the front of the court and force mistakes from him.

"He came back very strong in the first game and in the second he started to come back again and I was worried. But getting that point to go to 7-4 was important mentally and I am happy with how I played.

"I have to thank my family, my girlfriend, my coaches and my sponsors for helping me all the way and thanks to the crowd here as well who have been amazing all week."

Speaking after the match world No.4 Mosaad said: "I have played three tournaments in a row and it was tough on the body, but I'm really happy with reaching the final in two out of three.

"I truly enjoyed playing in front of the Canary Wharf crowd this week and I hope I'll be back next year."