Declan James is the Heroes Austrian Open champion

Declan James claimed his third title of 2024, and the 16^th of his PSA Tour career, beating Daniel Poleshchuk 3-1 in a hard-fought final at the Heroes Austrian Open.

James, the No.1 seed, was going into this final almost a year on from returning to action following a serious achilles injury, sitting at No.41 in the world after a largely successful past 12 months.

Standing between him and the trophy in Graz was fourth seed Poleshchuk, who James had beaten 3-0 on two separate occasions last season, but who came into this matchup full of confidence having only dropped one game all week.

Speaking after his semi-final win over Khaled Labib, Poleshchuk admitted he had little to lose in this final, and he matched the Englishman stride-for-stride in the early exchanges.

Game one alone was more than 15 minutes in duration, with some impressively long rallies, one of which totalled nearly two minutes, only to be ended by the referee who called a double on James’ pickup.

At 9-7 up, James was in pole position to take the lead but the Israeli had other ideas, winning four points in a row to win the game, highlighted by a breathtaking rally in which he hit a ‘tweener and then a brutal forehand winner.

Losing the opening game is something James had to overcome in both round two and the quarter-finals this week, but on both occasions he controlled proceedings from there, and today’s encounter appeared to be following the same pattern, as he eased into a 10-5 lead in game two.

Poleshchuk, though, continued scrapping for every point, displaying more of the devastating speed and retrieval skills we’d seen all week, saving all five game balls in a row to force a tiebreak.

He then had a game ball of his own to give himself a 2-0 lead but was unable to convert, eventually going down 14-12 when a backhand boast fell short of the wall on James’ seventh game ball.

Both players left the court to rapturous applause from the packed crowd at Heroes Squash Bar, who remained glued to the action throughout.

Game three was a similar tale to game two in that James opened up a sizeable lead, this time bringing up seven game balls at 10-3.

Once again, Poleshchuk threatened another dramatic comeback, but this time his charge would be halted at 10-6, as James moved in front after three.

So often a stage of the match – and tournament – when tensions can run high and emotions can spill over, game four was quite the opposite, as it continued to be a spectacle for the fans watching on, with the contest played in exceptionally good spirits.

Perhaps backing the underdog, perhaps just wanting to see a decider, the crowd greeted every Poleshchuk point with an ever-growing round of applause in game four, though their appreciation for some exceptional rallies won by James showed their knowledge of the sport as well.

Ultimately, there would be no decider, as James closed out victory on a stroke at 10-8 when Poleshchuk drifted into his swing path, ending the match after 65 minutes of outstanding action.

“It’s great to come here and get another title this week,” James said after collecting his trophy.

“It’s always a little bit of added pressure when you’re the top seed in an event, so the guys are coming after you.

“I thought Dan played a great match. He’s obviously improved a lot so I’m really happy to get over the line and just show that I can perform under pressure.

“It’s my second final in 10 days after Budapest last week. I came up short in that one so it’s good to put that right and get the win today and it sets me up really well for the rest of the season.

“He could have easily won that second game. I think he had game ball and then all of a sudden if you’re 2-0 down it’s a completely different ball game so I was, in a way, a little bit fortunate to win the second.

“But as soon as I did get that, I felt then a bit of a gap emerged. Physically that was fine for me and I could keep going at that pace all day. There was a slight drop off from him after that and then he came back of course in the fourth, but yeah, I’m happy to put in a good performance and just very grateful to be back on court playing at a good level.”

Result: Men’s Final[1 Declan James (ENG) bt Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) 3-1: 9-11, 14-12, 11-6, 11-8 (65m)

Foto: PSA