07 Mar 2016
Atlanta, 7 March 2016. Aspire Academy graduate and World No.61 squash player Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi lifted his first ever PSA World Tour title after a gargantuan five-game battle with second seed Chris Hanson in the final of the Life Time Atlanta Open, PSA M10 tournament.
Top seed Al Tamimi scythed through the field in the opening stages of the event and only dropped one game, against semi-final opponent Clinton Leeuw, en-route to the final. Hanson, meanwhile, eased by Diego Gobbi, Daniel Poleshchuk and Eric Galvez to set up a mouth-watering final encounter with Al Tamimi.
Both players engaged in some exciting, long-winded rallies from the outset as they each looked to move their opponent off the ’T’ and take advantage of the space at the front of the court. Al Tamimi made the breakthrough in the opening game before a resilient Hanson powered to victory in the second game. Hanson then went ahead in the third by the narrowest of margins but the encounter was to have another massive momentum swing when Al Tamimi levelled things up with an 11-9 triumph in game four.
With the match heading into the latter exchanges, both players traded a number of high-octane points as the title hung in the balance. It was Al Tamimi, the Qatari No.1, who managed to up rise above Hanson to claim the victory courtesy of an 11-9, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5 victory and break his PSA World Tour title duck.
Source: https://psaworldtour.com/news/view/3258/al-tamimi-claims-maiden-title-in-atlanta