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Final

[3] Tesni Murphy (WAL) 3-0 [1] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)  11-9, 11-9, 12-10 (45m)

Tesni Murphy claimed her second career title on the PSA Squash Tour, beating No.1 seed Sarah-Jane Perry 3-0 in the Monte Carlo Classic final.

The two players are good friends off the court and had been sharing a room together in Monaco this week, but had to put their friendship to one side as they went head-to-head with the trophy on the line.

Both players are former finalists here – Perry in 2015 and Murphy in 2020 – with both hoping to go one better this time around and get their hands on the silverware.

Perry had beaten Murphy in the pair’s most recent encounter, coming at last season’s British Open, but it was the Welsh No.1 who came out on top of a hard-fought opening game here at the Stade Louis II, taking it 11-9 after just over 10 minutes.

The margins remained extremely tight deep into the second game, with Perry finding the tin at a few crucial moments as Murphy moved 2-0 in front, winning game two by the same 11-9 scoreline as the first.

Only once in the first two games had there been more than two points between the two players – at 8-5 in the second – but Murphy took control of game three early, racing out to a 6-2 lead to move within touching distance of glory.

6-2 soon became 8-4 but Perry was not about to throw in the towel, battling hard to close the gap back to 10-8, before saving two match balls.

The first came on a crunching volley drive down the line, while the second resulted from Murphy finding the tin on a forehand kill, but saving a third match ball would prove to be one step too far for Perry, as she tinned a backhand drop at 11-10 down.

Murphy turned to the crowd and lifted her arms aloft in celebration, and speaking after collecting her trophy, she revealed how much it meant to end the week with glory.

“It means a lot,” she said.

“I think it’s pretty well-known that I’ve only won one title in my career, so I think this week I was really looking for a title. It’s never been the most important thing to win loads of titles for me, but at the same time it feels very special.

“Big smile on my face, I’ve really enjoyed this week. I’m just trying to enjoy my squash again. It makes me play better so I was pretty happy with how it went.

“SJ is obviously a great player, we’ve had some insane battles over the years so I was expecting a big one today and that’s what it was, so yeah, really happy.”

Semis

Sarah-Jane Perry and Tesni Murphy will face off for the Monte Carlo Classic title, after semi-final wins over Joshna Chinappa and Lucy Turmel respectively.

Despite playing only one event on Tour in the last 14 months, Chinappa had rolled back the years with an impressive week up to this point, perhaps even surprising herself after having originally booked her flight home on semi-finals day, needing to re-arrange it after beating Alicia Mead in the last eight.

That result set her up for a semi-final showdown with No.1 seed Perry, the pair coming into the contest having played more than 800 matches between them in their PSA Tour careers.

Nine of those had been against each other with Perry coming out on top seven of those nine times, and she was quickly into her stride this time around, opening up a 6-2 advantage in game one.

Chinappa clawed her way back to 10-8 but Perry closed out the game nonetheless, hitting a perfectly-weighted backhand volley drop on game ball.

Game two then followed a similar pattern, with Perry opening up a 9-4 lead and Chinappa closing the gap, but once again the No.1 seed came out on top, establishing a two-game lead after 15 minutes of play.

Perhaps feeling as though she had nothing to lose and with a dying ball, Chinappa came out firing in game three, taking a more aggressive approach and going short at every opportunity, racing into a 10-3 lead and taking her second game ball.

She then fought back from 5-2 down in the fourth to level at 6-6, before Perry regained control, reeling off three points in a row to take a 9-6 lead.

Back came the Indian star once more, though, levelling at 9-9 and then showing outstanding fighting spirit to save three match balls in the passage that followed.

The first of those had come at the end of a breathtaking long rally in which the 38-year-old Chinappa flew around the court as though she was only 18, with a backhand into the tin from Perry keeping the match alive.

Perry would ultimately get over the line on her fourth match ball, though, as Chinappa drilled a serve return into the tin.

The top seed will now hope to go one better than in this event nine years ago – the only other time she’s played here – when she finished as runner-up to Jenny Duncalf.

Hoping to deny her, however, will be her roommate this week, Murphy, who beat No.2 seed Turmel in the first semi-final.

Turmel had come through a tricky, five-game test against Hana Ismail in the quarter-finals, but made the better start to this one, taking the opening game 11-8.

That game alone lasted nearly 15 minutes with long rallies a theme of the contest, and that continued throughout game two, which was almost identical in duration.

This time it was Murphy, though, who reached the race to 11, playing a sharp cross-court backhand drop on her second game ball.

There had been only one stroke in the first two games and the match continued to be relatively clean throughout the third, with Murphy taking control midway through, moving swiftly from 4-3 down to 10-4 up, this time only needing one game ball to clinch the game.

With a place in the final calling, the Welsh No.1 then made the perfect start to game four, continuing to put the ball deep into the corners and move her opponent around.

From 7-2 up she soon brought up four match balls at 10-6 and took the second of those four, hitting a backhand boast that Turmel couldn’t reach to end proceedings.

Perry and Murphy will now have to put their friendship to one side with the title on the line…