Richie Wins Rhiwbina Welsh Open Professional Title

Richie Fallows is PSA Welsh Open champion for a second successive season.

The 23-year-old England international from Stratford in London defeated Spanish player Edmond Lopez 11-6, 11-8, 11-3 in 43 minutes.

Top seeds Fallows and Lopez went head-to-head in the $11,000 professional Challenger men’s tournament final at Rhiwbina SRC.

The draw included four players ranked inside the World’s top 100 – Fallows (57), Lopez (62), Peter Creed (Wales, 63) and Benjamin Aubert (France, 97).

Fallows and Lopez clashed in the final and retained his title in three straight games.

He controlled the match from the start and despite his opponents’ best efforts he triumphed to earn the win.

Lopez, however, played his part. After a few heroic weeks which saw him win an event and then be part of a great Spanish effort at the Europeans this was one game too many.

The Barcelona-born player, who is part of the Welsh Wizards Premier Squash League team, came through some tough matches at Rhiwbina this week,

He battled hard, but could not come out on top in many of the close contested rallies.

Lopez will come again and has the ability to climb the World rankings.

Fallows moves forward as two-time champion here in Wales to pursue bigger titles.

This was the third Rhiwbina PSA World Open and, once again, it was a hugely successful and well attended week of squash.

Fallows had despatched Abhay Singh in straight games during his semi-final, while Lopez defeated Aubert in four games.