Men’s $6k PSA Challenger, 28 Nov – 02 Dec, Prague
[1] Benjamin Aubert 3-0 [5] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) 11-8, 11-4, 14-12 (57m)
Benjamin Aubert (n°56 mondial) a dû batailler en fin de partie face au Colombien Juan Camilo Vargas (n°83), qui a sauvé plusieurs balles de match, mais ça en valait la peine : à 24 ans, le Français a remporté ce soir son cinquième titre sur le circuit PSA, et son premier Challenger 10.
Grâce à ce succès, le pensionnaire du Pôle France Squash CREPS PACA, Site d’Aix-en-Provence va se rapprocher du top 50, et aura une autre occasion de marquer des points en Espagne sur un autre Challenger 10, du 20 au 23 décembre.
Article en anglais
Juan Vargas playing in his home club and cheered by his fellow team mates started the match well. He got an early lead and played without any errors to keep it till 8/6 but then hit the tin 3 times in a row and allowed Benjamin Aubert to turn it to 11/8 in 17 minutes.
Second game was dominated by Benjamin who took it 11/4. The third was the most dramatic game. The score was always close at the beginning 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4. Juan got to 7/4 and 8/5 by playing a series of very good rallies. Benjamin regrouped and took next 5 points to earn two matchballs at 10/8. Juan saved both and two more at 11/10 and 12/11 but Benjamin was able to use his fifth chance and won 14/12. 57 minutes of high quality squash to finish the tournament. The best player deservedly won the title.
Benjamin Aubert:
Finally won a 10k for the first time. Happy with the way I played all week. So after my surgery 8 months ago this title is for my family, friends, girlfriend, coaches and especially for my good silly friend Zozo.Juan Vargas:
I´m bummed not to win today. I felt like I played well all week but today I struggled to impose my game and when I finally felt in control it was too late. Credit to him for playing well. Thanks to Czech squash and Strahov for putting up a great event.
photos Irena Vanišová
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Benjamin Aubert (n°60 mondial) en route vers les demies. Pour la troisième fois en trois jours, il affrontera demain un Tchèque, en l’occurrence Jakub Solnicky. Le n°90 mondial est un joueur dangereux, et le Français en sait quelque chose puisqu’il avait perdu contre lui lors de sa première sélection en équipe de France senior …
here is a short report from today´s quarters in Prague.
In the first match top seeded Frenchman Benjamin Aubert started with a very high pace and it took David Zeman a while to get used to it. He was soon 7/0 down but he managed to get back into the match. Benjamin won the first 11/7. Second game was quite close all the way to 8/8 but Benjamin played the last few points better and won 11/9. In the third Benjamin got a good lead quickly and although David never stopped trying the favourite close the match 11/6 in 35 minutes.
Benjamin Aubert:
Managed to get a spot in semi final after a 3-0 win today. I was leading at the begining of every game and trying to keep the advantage of the whole match. 2 more matches to get the title home. Let´s see what happens.David Zeman:
I was little bit surprised by high pace and quality attacks of Benjamin at the start and I was quickly losing 0-7 in the first game. Luckily I got used to it and managed to play with him better rallies in later stages but he was a better player today and deserved to win. But overall I am quite happy with my tournament here and even the game today where I was really stiff from my match on Sunday was not bad.
Quarts de finale
[1] Benjamin Aubert 3-0 David Zeman (CZE) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 (35m)