Squash in the Land – Men & Women $96 PSA Silver, 13-18 Jan, Cleveland, USA
Second Tour
Melvil Scianimanico v [1] Paul Coll (NZL)
[5] Auguste Dussourd v Nathan Lake (ENG)
[3] Gregoire Marche v Toufik Mekhalfi
Premier Tour
Melvil Scianimanico 3-1 Omar Said (EGY) 7-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 (35m)
Toufik Mekhalfi 3-2 Rui Soares (POR) 11-6, 9-11, 11-1, 7-11, 11-7 (55m)
Toufik Mekhalfi, who claimed the biggest win of his career so far last week in the first round of the Rich Venus Karachi Open Gold-level event, was 2-1 up before Soares forced a deciding fifth game. Mekhalfi eased to an 8-2 lead before Soares powered back and was within three points of levelling and sending the fifth into a tiebreak at 7-10 down; however, Mekhalfi was able to keep Soares at bay to prevail 11-6, 9-11, 11-1, 7-11, 11-7.
“This is technically a first-ever Silver first round win – today it was tough. It was difficult conditions and I’m really happy with that,” Mekhalfi said.
“It was a cheeky match because it was not my best match because the conditions were not easy. If you are not hitting the ball well, the ball was going into the middle of the court and it was difficult to find my length. It got better at points but not during all the match.”
