ISM March 2017

SUBURBAN COLLECTION
MOTOR CITY OPEN
RYANCUSKELLY
WINSMOTORCITYOPEN
Australian Ryan Cuskelly fought back against defending champion
Ali Farag in the final of the 2017 Motor City Open presented by The
Suburban Collection to claim the Professional Squash Association
(PSA) M70 title with an impressive 4-11 11-5 11-5 11-9 triumph at the
Birmingham Athletic Club in Detroit.
I’m pretty excited to
win my biggest title in
my favorite tournament
on the tour
In his ninth year participating in the Motor
City Open, Cuskelly who had previously
never progressed beyond the quarterfinals,
upset the defending champion to
win his fifteenth biggest PSA World Tour
title of his career
“I’m pretty excited to win my biggest title
in my favorite tournament on the tour,”
Cuskelly said. “I always told the guys here
I’d win it someday, but I didn’t expect it to
be this year.”
The eagerly anticipated final didn’t start
well for Cuskelly, as Farag dominated
the first game with error-free precision.
However, things took a dramatic turn in
the second game as Cuskelly increased
the pace and chased down seemingly
irretrievable winners to frustrate his
younger opponent.
The 29-year-old Australian owned the
third much like the second, going on a
five-point run to move one game away
from the title. Farag however appeared to
regain his steady form in the fourth game
to lead 9-4, but Cuskelly was not to be
denied and as he cut his opponent’s lead
to 7-9 and then 8-9 it became apparent
that the momentum had swung and the
tenacious lefthander closed-out the match
to claim a much deserved victory.
“It’s unbelievable,” Cuskelly said. “I lost
in qualification for years, but I did a lot of
hard training in December and it paid off.”
Suburban Collection Motor City
Open, Michigan, USA
Final:
[7] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt
[3] Ali Farag (EGY) 11-7, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7
INTERNATIONALSQUASHMAGAZINE March 2017 | 25
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