Bonmalais & Megahed Claim Czech Open Crowns

Sebastien Bonmalais and Nour Megahed both claimed the biggest titles of their PSA Squash Tour careers to date, winning the Monit Czech Open at Centrum Viktoria in Brno.

Both players had fought back from two games down on semi-finals day, beating England's George Parker and Hong Kong's Toby Tse, respectively, and both players were facing opponents from the same countries in the final, with Frenchman Bonmalais facing Declan James and Egypt's Megahed taking on Ching Hei Fung.

Key to Bonmmalais' turnaround against Parker 24 hours earlier had been a change in tactics to a more aggressive approach midway through the match, and he adopted that mindset from the start in the final, looking to dictate the pace of play.

He got his just reward by taking the opening game 11-7, but James raced out of the blocks early in the second, establishing a 4-0 lead that he would soon convert into 11-5 to draw level.

But despite having played five games yesterday, Bonmalais continued to push the pace in game three, displaying the phenomenal movement and lightning speed around the court that he's so well known for.

He dropped only four points in the game but found himself on the back foot in game four, trailing 6-5 with James doing his best to move him around.

Moving around is something Bonmalais does as well as anyone in the game, though, and he was soon on the brink of glory, reeling off five points in a row to bring up four match balls.

He only needed one, forcing James deep into the forehand corner, with the No.7 seed unable to get the boast back onto the front wall.

Bonmalais turned to his corner in celebration as the ball fell short of the tin, and speaking after collecting his trophy to round out the Copper event, he credited his coach for the level of his performances.

"It means a lot," said the 26-year-old from Aix-en-Provence. "Obviously that was an objective, to win a 30k this season, so I'm really happy and glad to win my first Copper event. It's my biggest title so far so I'm really happy.

"That was my team with me. Joan - my coach - was here with me all the week so it was great to have him behind me as good support, and I feel that my level is starting to go up since I've been training with him, and since the beginning of the season I'm more consistent.

"That was the deal here, to come to play a smaller event and try to win more matches, build more confidence. I'm proud of myself for the week and for the fight I had.

"Declan is such a good player and I had to fight it through, make the pace high, and at the end - same as [against] George - I was starting to feel like he was starting to drop and I was still feeling fresh, so yeah, really, really happy and looking forward for the next event."

Earlier in the day, Egyptian teenager Megahed claimed her third PSA Tour title in the women's event - a Challenger 9 - beating Fung 3/0 in a dominant, 26-minute display.

Megahed had squandered winning positions in the first two games of her semi-final win over Tse, but there would be no repeat this time around, as she took game one 11-8 and then game two 11-9, holding off a comeback from Fung in the second after being 10-6 up.

Knowing she needed to turn the tide quickly, Fung won three of the first four points in game three but that would be as good as it got, as the 19-year-old from Cairo strung together 10 points in a row to close out victory 11-3, beaming a smile as she turned to face the crowd.

"I'm so happy to win my third PSA title here," Megahed said after her win.

"I'm so glad with the way I played today. I think I managed my game plan and I was focused from the start to the end. This is the most important part, to stay focused and not lose my game plan and get my ball to the back, to the two corners of the back, and just take the ball in and go for it short."