India’s Aditya Jagtap, the top seed made a confident march into the final before emerging winner beating Muhammad Bilal of Italy 11-9, 11-9, 13-11 in the Bourbon Trail 3 tournament, a Professional Squash Association challenger event in Louisville, USA on Saturday.
This is the fourth PSA title of his career.
Jagtap did not lose a single game right through the tournament, beating Alexander Scott of USA in the first round then fifth seed Cory McCartney of Canada next for a place in the semi-final. In the last four, he beat the Pakistani player and fourth seed Syed Hamzah Bukhari 11-6, 11-6, 11-7.
The final was a close match with both players involved in long rallies. Consistency was key for the Indian as he won the big points just when at 9-9 it seemed anybody’s game, in the first two. The third game saw Bilal forcing the issue to extra points but Jagtap was steady, while Bilal suffered unforced errors to give away points, the game and the match.
Jagtap emerged as the men’s singles champion at a challenger tour event held at Bourbon Trail in the USA in January as well. Jagtap had defeated Andrew Schnell of Canada over five games 12-10, 4-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6 in the final.