Conor Moran flew out to Finland on Monday to play in this week’s Helsinki PSA Challenger having won the Curragh PSA Open at Fitzwilliam on Sunday. The Irish men’s No.1 defeated Laouenan Loaec of France 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-6) in a 25-minute final.
Handed a bye in the opening round, Moran picked off the fifth-place Aaron Knox 3-1 – but only after the recent Ireland Junior World Championship player won the opening game 11-9 – and the third-place Alex Smith 3-0.
The Curragh Open victory lifted Moran in the PSA rankings to No.171, 16 places above the American Christopher Gordon, whom he will play at 2pm local time (12 noon Irish) on Tuesday.
Moran won’t be the only Irish interest in Finland as Sam Buckley, the No.125 rank, is also chasing PSA points. Buckley has a first-round bye on Tuesday and will start on Wednesday against either Noah Meredith, the No.162 from England, or Yehia Essam, the No.195 from Egypt.
Another winner at the Curragh Open at the Fitzwilliam was Scotland’s Robyn McAlpine, who bounced back from her quarter-final exit on Friday in the IACT Fitzwilliam PSA Ladies to win three matches, including the final 3-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-4) against Juliette Permentier of the Netherlands.
Another Scot, Peter Maccari, clinched the Men’s B title with four round-robin wins, while Janco Hesse won the all-Irish men’s C final 3-0 (11-7, 14-12, 11-8) against Eoin Tynan.
