Top Seeds Ryder & Rosner To Contest Odessa Final

22 Aug 2009

Top seeds Chris Ryder and Simon Rosner will contest the final of the first PSA Tour squash event to be held in Ukraine after surviving hard-fought four-game semi-finals in the $10,000 Zenit Black Sea Open at the Fitness Club Forma in Odessa.

English event favourite Ryder recovered from a game down to beat fourth-seeded Frenchman Stephane Galifi 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 in 55 minutes.

The world No37 from Wolverhampton will be hoping to celebrate his 29th birthday in style in the 14th PSA Tour final of his career, but his first this year.

But younger Rosner, the No2 seed from Germany, took nine minutes longer to earn his place in his third Tour final in the past five months. The 21-year-old from Paderborn battled for 64 minutes to overcome former Egyptian Amr Swelim, the third seed now playing under the Italian flag, 11-5, 9-11, 11-1, 11-9.

Semi-finals:
[1] Chris Ryder (ENG) bt [4] Stephane Galifi (FRA) 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 (55m)
[2] Simon Rosner (GER) bt [3] Amr Swelim (ITA) 11-5, 9-11, 11-1, 11-9 (64m)