Kemp Crowned Atlanta Open Champion
May 19, 2009
RESULTS: Atlanta Open Squash Championship, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
England’s Jonathan Kemp celebrated his fourth successive PSA World Tour final appearance in North America in grand style when he defeated defending champion Eric Galvez in four games to claim the Atlanta Open crown at the Concourse Athletic Club in Atlanta, USA.
The in-form left-hander from Halifax in Yorkshire reached the final of the $10,000 squash event in its tenth year without dropping a game.
Kemp, currently ranked 31 in the world, was in full control in the first two games and soon reached match-ball at 10-8 in the third. But second seed Galvez, who became the first Mexican to win the title last year, came back with some big winners to take the game 15-13.
But the top-seeded Englishman got off to a good start in the fourth and Galvez, still feeling the effects of the previous game, was unable to keep the momentum going.
Kemp conceded just three further points before claiming the match 11-4, 11-5, 13-15, 11-3 after 50 minutes to become the third Englishman (after Nick Matthew in 2001 and Bradley Ball the following year) win the Atlanta Open title.
The win marks Kemp’s second successive PSA title triumph in the USA, his third of the year and the eighth of his career.
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