Diego Elias wins maiden title in Qatar
Doha: Peru's Diego Elias overcame the challenge of British Open winner Paul Coll to win the 2021 Qatar QTerminals Classic at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha on Saturday.
The World No.8 defeated the New Zealander, ranked third on the PSA computer to pick up his maiden title in Qatar and also his first Platinum one and ninth PSA circuit triumph.
Elías , gold medalist at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games , won 13-11, 5-11, 13-11 and 11-9 against his good friend and training partner and world No.3 after fighting it for 83 minutes on the glass court.
The Peruvian thus was able to take revenge of his loss to Coll at the British Open in August this year, where he was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
“I can’t believe it still. i am very happy with this, very happy with my game! I want to thank everyone for coming today, and thanks to all the Peruvian people who came, that is a massive help for me!” Elias said.
“Just very happy to be a Platinum champion for the first time. I have been trying for a long time now, so I am very happy and I want to thank all the organiser. This tournament is always the best, they treat us so well, it is incredible to be the champion here.
“Paul is my closest friend on Tour and it is the first time in forever that there are no Egyptians in a final, so we were very happy for that! He is such a great champion, he is an inspiration for anyone that plays squash, or any sport really. I am a massive fan too and I train with him too!
“I am very happy and I want to thank everyone who supported me since I started.
My dad has been with me since the start. He has been my coach, and after that I started training with Jonathon [Power] for a long time. He has been a massive help as well so I have a great team with me! My physio that I have seen, they helped me be back here. In July I didn’t even know if I could play matches in a row, and now in October, to be a champion is just incredible. I am just very happy with this!
Coll said: “It is hard to see those [positives] now, but I am happy to be back here in Doha, competing in another final on such a great stage. It’s a really well-run tournament, a massive thank you to the sponsors, to QTerminals for being the main sponsor here, and to the Qatar Squash Federation for putting on such a great event and making the players feel special. They look after us the best on Tour, so it is a pleasure to be here.
“All of my sponsors, they really make my life easy. I feel like they are a part of my team and not just a sponsor. To everyone who helps me out, especially my coaches, Bart [Wijnhoven] my mental coach, and Rob Owen, my squash coach. i thought we had a good plan this week, unfortunately I just didn’t quite convert it. I had game balls tonight in every set but I just couldn't close it out. A massive thanks to my team, I could do this without them.
“Thank you everyone for turning out again, not just tonight but all week, we appreciate so thank you very much!”
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