Final : Lobban beats Rooney in all-British Final
Scotland’s Greg Lobban claimed the Budapest Open title yesterday after beating England’s Patrick Rooney in the final to win his 16th PSA Tour title.
The Scot was in scintillating form all week and after beating dangerous Japanese player Ryunosuke Tsukue in the semi-finals, faced an in-form Patrick Rooney in the final, who was looking for his first PSA title since November 2023.
The hot, bouncy conditions seemed to suit Lobban as he was adopting a patient, measured style of play from the start of the match. He tidied up situations around the middle of the court, frustrating Rooney and won the opener 11-6. More of the same followed in game two as the experienced World No.19 continued to negate Rooney’s attacks and did a superb job of absorbing pressure then inflicting his own, usually with straight kills which caught the Englishman off guard.
After a 2-0 lead was established by Lobban, Rooney came out of the blocks firing in game three and earned a 7-3 lead. A clever decision by Lobban to ask for the court cleaners disrupted the Rooney rhythm and he then won the next seven points in a row to hold three match balls. Despite a late rally from the No.3 seed, Lobban closed out the game 11-9 to win his 16th title on the PSA tour and do so without dropping a single game.
Semis
An all British final will take place at the Budapest Open today as England’s Patrick Rooney will take on Scotland’s Greg Lobban for the Copper event title.
Rooney was the first to claim a spot in the final after he cruised past Switzerland’s Yannick Wilhelmi in straight games. The No. 6-seeded Swiss had shown how dangerous he can be throughout the event, but struggled to make a real impact in the game against Rooney. The Englishman moved the ball around the court with great precision and attacked with clinical nature.
After taking a close opener 15-13, Rooney stormed through the next two games winning 11-2, 11-8 to reach his first event final since November 2023.
In the top half of the draw, No.1 seed Greg Lobban maintained his record of not losing a game throughout the event as he took his place in the final. Lobban was up against dangerous Japanese No.1 Ryunosuke Tsukue. The No.7 seed ended home hopes in the quarter finals as he beat Balazs Farkas in five games. Lobban knew the dangers of the Japanese No.1 and was on red alert from the start. Lobban closed the court down well and used his accuracy to stifle Tsukue’s attacks. Lobban won 11-9, 11-7, 13-11 to set up the all-British final.
Quarters
The semi-finalists have been decided at the Budapest Open 2025 with four players claiming victories on day three of the Copper level event.
Home hopes ended as No.4 seed and Hungarian No.1 Balazs Farkas lost out in a five game thriller to Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue. After losing the first, the well-backed favourite took games two and three to lead 2-1 on the scoreboard. The Japanese No.1 came back strongly in game four and used his agility and deceptiveness to trouble Balazs. 11-8 to Tsukue was the fourth game scoreline and the No.7 seed fed off that momentum in game five to comfortably take it 11-4.
Tsukue will now take on top seed Greg Lobban in the semi-finals after the Scot needed just over half an hour to defeat England’s George Parker.
The bottom half of the draw was blown wide open after South Africa’s Dewald van Niekerk’s RD2 victory over Nick Wall but the giant killer couldn’t build on that as he fell to Switzerland’s Yannick Wilhelmi in straight games. The rallies were long and attritional throughout the contest but it was Wilhelmi’s accuracy which proved to good for van Niekerk.
Patrick Rooney will be Wilhelmi’s opponent in the final four after he came through a five set clash with Portugal’s Rui Soares. Soares closed out a tight first game 13-11 but seemed to pay the price physically in games two and three as Rooney won 11-3, 11-5 to lead 2-1 and place one foot in the semis.
Despite looking visibly fatigued, Soares showed his strength to fight back and force a fifth and final game. Rooney recognised the drop off from Soares and pounced in game five, pulling ahead on the scoreboard to eventually win 11-6.
Round Two
Dewald van Niekerk Downs No.2 Seed Wall To Reach Budapest Last Eight
Day two of the Budapest Open saw the top eight seeds enter the fray, looking to secure spots in the quarter finals of the Copper level event. No.2 seed Nick Wall suffered an early exit as he fell to training partner Dewald van Niekerk from South Africa in straight games.
Van Niekerk and Wall were second in the running order on day two and traded the onlooking Budapest crowd to numerous accurate, well-constructed rallies. Wall, who was expected to dominate the fixture, came up against a resilient figure in the form of van Niekerk. The South African stayed solid and measured as he took two tight first games both 11-9, He then stormed through 11-4 in the third to score one of the biggest wins in his career so far.
The South African will now face Switzerland’s Yannick Wilhelmi in the quarter finals after the Swiss came through a battle with Spain’s Ivan Perez. The pair met just last week in the CIB Egyptian Open qualification, with Perez winning in dramatic style. This time however, Wilhelmi lost the third game 15-13, but the efforts seem to take more out of Perez than he would have wanted as the No.6 seed ran through 11-2, 11-4 to win in 78 minutes.
The other five-setter of the day came in the top half of the draw as Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue came from behind to beat former World Junior Champion Rowan Damming in 79 minutes. Damming responded well after losing the opening game and won 11-9, 11-8 to establish a 2-1 lead. The more experienced Tsukue didn’t panic however and hung on well to win games four and five both 11-9 to clinch his spot in the last eight. He’ll face home favourite Balazs Farkas in the next round after the tall Hungarian beat Toufik Mekhalfi in four.
Top seed Greg Lobban wasted no time in booking his spot in the next round, confidently beating Egypt’s Yassin Elshafei in three. The same goes for his opponent in the quarters, George Parker, who defeated Emyr Evans in three games.
No.3 seed Patrick Rooney couldn’t have started any better against France’s Maceo Levy, but after winning the opening game 11-0, had to fight hard to win in four games and secure his quarters spot. He’ll take on Rui Soares, who downed No.8 seed Simon Herbert in four games.
Round One
The second Copper event of the 25/26 PSA Squash Tour season got underway yesterday as round one action started at City Squash Club in Budapest for the Budapest Open 2025.
Eight matches took place in round one as 16 players looked to secure their places in the second round.
France’s Maceo Levy scored the pick of the round one wins as he recovered from 2-1 down to beat England’s Sam Osborne-Wylde in five games. The Englishman took the lead at 2-1 but was pegged back by Levy to 2-2. A nail-biting fifth game went all the way to 15-13 with the Frenchman coming out on top to earn a spot in the second round.
Both event wildcards Daniel Simon and Benedek Takacs fell in straight games to Rui Soares and Yassin Elshafei. Whilst another resounding victory came from Rowan Damming as he needed just 23 minutes to beat Daniel Poleshchuk.
European trio Emyr Evans, Ivan Perez and Toufik Mekhalfi were joined by South Africa’s Dewald van Nierkerk in securing round two spots.
