Kandra Scores Surprise Seattle Success

Germany's Raphael Kandra celebrated his first Tour win over Omar Abdel Meguid when he defeated the higher-ranked Egyptian in the final of the Stratos Seattle Open to win the PSA Challenger 10 squash event at Seattle Athletic Club in Seattle, USA.

Kandra, the event's No.2 seed, reached his 16th PSA World Tour final after surviving a close five-game semi-final battle with third-seeded Indian Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu.

Top seed Meguid, the world No.33 from Giza, also prevailed in a marathon semi, seeing off England's fourth seed Declan James 10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 12-14, 11-5 to set up his 17th Tour final - and his 200th match on the PSA Tour.

But, despite victories in two meetings with Kandra over the past 18 months, Meguid was unable to extend his run as the world No.50 from Essen powered his way through to his title-winning 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 upset in 45 minutes.

The win marks German number two Kandra's second Tour title triumph of the year - an achievement only matched so far by Nick Matthew, the world No.3 from England who last week won his second title of the year at the PSA World Series Windy City Open in Chicago.