Thomas v Damming take four in squash final
- Dave Worsley
- Jun 28
- 2 min read
An enticing couple of finals in the Trust Aoraki Midlands PSA Challenger finals in Temuka with the top seeds playing off in both men's and women's deciders.
However, it's in the men's final where there will be plenty of attention as second seed and world No 100 Elijah Thomas faces Dutchman Rowan Damming ranked 89th for the title.
LATEST HEADLINES:
The pair played in a somewhat contentious final in the Christchurch PSA tournament last week with Damming , the former junior world champion, taking the match in five games.
Last year it was Damming who won the two PSA Challengers finals in the South Island over Thomas as well with the kiwi not keen on making it four losses.
They had differing ways of making the final Damming took 82 minutes to defeat the unseeded Egyptian Islam Kouritam in five games, whereas Thomas took straight games, but still 45 minutes to beat fourth seed Hafiz Zhafri of Malaysia, both matches on the glass court in front of raucous crowd.
The women's draw saw top seed Ella Lash initial absorb a powerful display from Georgia Robcke to win her quaterfinal and then defeat fellow 19-year-old Emma Merson in four games to reach the final where she'll face third seed Jena Gregory.
Gregory took five games to subdue second see Jasmine Thirst who showed plenty of fight in the 38 minute match.
Thirst was down by two games but found her rhythm to claim the next two games forcing the match to a decider, however Gregory then took the match 11-5 to set up the final against Lash who has a PSA ranking of 117.
Trust Aoraki Midlands PSA Women's Quarterfinal Results
Jasmine Thirst bt Maiden Lee Coe 11/3 11/9 11/6
Jena Gregory bt Lily Rae 11/9 11/6 11/7
Emma Merson bt Lowri Waugh 11/9 11/5 11/7
Ella Lash bt Georgia Robcke 7/11 11/4 11/4 11/9
Men's Semifinals
(1)Rowan Damming bt Islam Kouritam 8-11,11-4, 11-3, 7-11, 11-6 (82 minutes)
(2) Elijah Thomas (NZ) bt (4) Hafiz Zhafri (Malaysia) 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 (45 minutes)
Women's semifinals
(3) Jena Gregory bt (2) Jasmine Thirst 11-7, 11-6, 6-11, j5-11. 11-5 (38 minutes)
(1) Ella Lash bt (4) Emma Merson 11-6, 9-11, 11-2 11-8 (32 mins)
