RESULTS:    Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Squash Open, Dublin, Ireland

Men's final:
[1] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [Q] Borja Golan (ESP) 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-5 (100m)

Women's final:
[1] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [5] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) 13-11, 11-8, 11-6 (44m)


Top seeds Mohd Azlan Iskandar and Madeline Perry triumphed in contrasting styles in the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Squash Open, the established men's and women's Tour event at the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin.

Ireland’s Madeline Perry won her fourth Irish Open trophy after beating former champion Vanessa Atkinson, the fifth seed from the Netherlands, 13-11, 11-8, 11-6 in 44 minutes in the final of the women's $25,300 WISPA World Tour event.

Perry made several uncharacteristic errors in the first game – but saved a game ball to open up a one-game lead.

"The turning point of the match came in the second game when Perry, who was leading 8–6 at the time, won a 60-shot rally," said Tournament Director Gina Menzies.  "Atkinson tired visibly after this point and she seemed deflated while Perry, who is one of the hardest hitters in the game, upped her pace and intensity to take the second game 11-8 and before racing through the third."

It was a popular home triumph for the 33-year-old from Banbridge, near Belfast - just two weeks after Perry won the biggest title of her career at the Australian Open in Canberra.  

The win, the eighth WISPA Tour title of Perry's career, also marked her first Tour victory over Atkinson, the Irish Open champion in 2003 and 2004, in seven meetings since 2002.

An epic five-game match brought the men's $25,000 PSA World Tour event to a climax – with both players recording their longest matches of the year as Iskandar beat Spanish qualifier Borja Golan 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-5 in 100 minutes.

Indeed Golan, the former world No10 in his third successive Tour final after recovering from knee surgery, had two match balls in the fourth game.  

The first four games were tightly-contested but Iskandar’s greater fitness levels ultimately prevailed as the world No14 from Malaysia clinched the decider 11–6.

Iskandar, runner-up in the Dublin event in 2008, is celebrating the 13th PSA Tour title of his career.