POSTED DAE : June 22, 2014

Loch Ness Challenger, Inverness, Scotland (17-22 Jun’14)

The two finalists denied the crowd an all-Scottish climax after dramatic semi-finals – eighth seed Mangaonkar ousting the event favourite Alan Clyne, the Scottish No.1 ranked 35 in the world, and third seed Finitsis recovering from 2/1 down to beat Inverness-born giant-killer Greg Lobban in a 116-minute five-game marathon.

The two finalists denied the crowd an all-Scottish climax after dramatic semi-finals – eighth seed Mangaonkar ousting the event favourite Alan Clyne, the Scottish No.1 ranked 35 in the world, and third seed Finitsis recovering from 2/1 down to beat Inverness-born giant-killer Greg Lobban in a 116-minute five-game marathon.

Unseeded Lobban, the 21-year-old World No.71, had reached the last four after upsets over No.2 seed Omar Abdel Aziz and seventh seed Joel Hinds.

Finitsis, the Netherlands-based 31-year-old boasting a career-high World No.50 ranking, took a 2/0 lead in the final before Mangaonkar, a 20-year-old from Mumbai marking his third Tour final of the year, regained the upper hand to take the third game.

FINAL:

• [3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt [8] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) 11-9, 11-2, 2-11, 11-5 (61m)

SEMI-FINALS:

• [8] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt [1] Alan Clyne (SCO) 11-7, 11-4, 5-11, 11-7 (59m)
• [3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt Greg Lobban (SCO) 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8 (116m);

QUARTER-FINALS:

• [1] Alan Clyne (SCO) bt [6] Raphael Kandra (GER) 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (50m)
• [8] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt [4] Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) 11-13, 11-8, 3-11, 11-5, 11-6 (83m)
• [3] Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt [5] Zahed Mohamed (EGY) 11-6, 12-10, 11-13, 11-7 (73m)
• Greg Lobban (SCO) bt [7] Joel Hinds (ENG) 11-6, 11-3, 11-4 (45m)

1ST ROUND:

• [8] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt [Q] Michael Harris (ENG) 10-12, 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 11-2 (67m)