STEWART IS A HIT IN THE USA
Crieff squash star takes his fourth title at Texas Open in Houston
Crieff ’s Rory Stewart added another title to his growing collection at the weekend.
The rising Strath capital squash star won the Novum Energy Texas Open on Sunday evening.
The former Crieff High School pupil secured the win with a victory over England’s Sam Todd in the final.
The Challenger 10 event took place at the Downtown Club in Houston across five days.
Stewart went in to the tournament as the fourth seed and secured what is his fourth win on the Challenger circuit so far this year.
He started his campaign with a win over England’s Tom Walsh, having received a bye through to the second round thanks to his seeding.
Stewart then got the better of Welshman Emyr Evans to make it into the last four.
The 26- year- old then took on New Zealand’s Lwamba Chileshe in the semifinals.
He suffered a setback after losing the first game 11-1.
However, Stewart regrouped to take the next three games, the last of which went in his favour by the same scoreline as the first one he lost.
The final was an epic five-gamer, with the first three all going to tie-breaks.
Englishman Todd took two of those, including an incredible 1917 third game.
But after that Stewart showed his qualities, winning the next two games 11-5, 11-3 to secure his fourth title of the year.
Paul Bell is Scotland’s director of squash and was delighted with the win.
He said: “The depth of quality in British squash is really strong and results have shown in recent weeks that these events are difficult to win.
“You need to be on top of your game from the first match. It’s a physical and mental challenge as well as a squash challenge. Rory has really got stuck into training during lockdown and the hard work is paying off.”
Bell concluded: “All of the Scottish players have got plenty of events to look forward to in the next few months and hopefully the success gives them a boost.
“The players are all feeling positive about where their squash is at and it’s now about finding that competitive edge in the events.”