England’s Nick Wall took out the top two seeds en route to victory, while Cindy Merlo secured the title on home soil, with the pair victorious at the Swiss Open & Uster Cup on Sunday afternoon.
The Englishman, who only won his first title of the year earlier in October, came into the tournament as the No.3 seed, and he would go on to get the better of the two players seeded ahead of him in the latter stages.
After receiving a bye through to the second round, Wall defeated Frenchman Toufik Mekhalfi in four games, before then beating No.9 seed Abhishek Pradhan in the quarter finals.
He then came up against No.2 seed Farkas Balazs in the last four, and he needed just 39 minutes to get the better of the Hungarian, winning two tie-breaks in a 3-0 victory.
Wall then downed top seed Rui Soares, beating the Portuguese No.1 in a four-game final on Sunday afternoon at Squash Arena Uster, fighting back after losing the first game to win 3-1, claiming his second title of the year, after a win at the Gibraltar Open earlier this month.
Cindy Merlo, the Swiss No.1, was the top seed for the women’s event, a Challenger 3 level competition, and she started her campaign with comfortable win over Russia’s Varvara Esina.
Merlo, who sits just inside the top 50 in the World Rankings, then downed fellow Swiss player Stella Kaufmann in a 16-minute quarter final, before beating No.3 seed Celine Walser in just 20 minutes, also 3-0.
The Swiss No.1 then came up against another compatriot in the final, in Swiss No.2 Nadia Pfister, and they went the distance with three tie-breaks in the five games.
Merlo found herself in front twice, including after taking the third game 16-14, but she was pegged back by her compatriot on both occasions. It went to a tie-break in the fifth, which the Swiss No.1 was able to clinch, taking it 12-10 to win her second title of the year.
Results: Swiss Open & Uster Cup
Men’s Final
[3] Nick Wall (ENG) bt [1] Rui Soares (POR) 3-1: 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-1 (43m)
Women’s Final
[1] Cindy Merlo (SUI) bt [2] Nadia Pfister (SUI) 3-2: 11-9, 10-12, 16-14, 8-11, 12-10 (56m)
Men’s Semi-Finals
[1] Rui Soares (POR) bt [4] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) 3-2: 12-10, 11-4, 7-11, 7-11, 11-6 (66m)
[3] Nick Wall (ENG) bt [2] Farkas Balazs (HUN) 3-0: 12-10, 11-7, 13-11 (39m)
Women’s Semi-Finals
[1] Cindy Merlo (SUI) bt [3] Celine Walser (SUI) 3-0: 11-2, 11-7, 12-10 (20m)
[2] Nadia Pfister (SUI) bt [4] Taba Taghavi (FRA) 3-1: 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5 (33m)
Men’s Quarter Finals
[1] Rui Soares (POR) bt [12] Stuart MacGregor (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 (26m)
[4] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt Nilo Vidal (ESP) 3-1: 9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-5 (42m)
[3] Nick Wall (ENG) bt [9] Abhishek Pradhan (IND) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (24m)
[2] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt [8] Yuri Furneti (ITA) 3-1: 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7 (54m)
Women’s Quarter Finals
[1] Cindy Merlo (SUI) bt Stella Kaufmann (SUI) 3-0: 11-5, 11-0, 11-3 (16m)
[3] Celine Walser (SUI) bt [5] Katriona Allen (SCO) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 13-11 (24m)
[4] Taba Taghavi (FRA) bt [6] Sofia Mateos (ESP) 3-0: 11-1, 11-9, 11-2 (22m)
[2] Nadia Pfister (SUI) bt [7] Eva Fertekova (CZE) 3-0: 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 (19m)
Men’s Round Two
[1] Rui Soares (POR) bt [14] Nils Roesch (SUI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (29m)
[12] Stuart MacGregor (ENG) bt [6] Robin Gadola (SUI) 3-0: 11-3, 13-11, 11-6 (40m)
Nilo Vidal (ESP) bt [WC] David Bernet (SUI) 3-1: 11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6 (48m)
[4] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt [16] Manu Paquemar (FRA) 3-1: 9-11, 11-3, 12-10, 11-7 (42m)
[3] Nick Wall (ENG) bt [11] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) 3-1: 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5 (49m)
[9] Abhishek Pradhan (IND) bt [7] Vladislav Titov (RUS) 3-2: 3-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4 (43m)
[8] Yuri Furneti (ITA) bt [10] Cedric Kuchen (SUI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (39m)
[2] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt [13] Javier Martin (ESP) 3-1: 11-3, 10-12, 11-3, 11-6 (31m)
Women’s Round One
[1] Cindy Merlo (SUI) bt Varvara Esina (RUS) 3-0: 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 (23m)
Stella Kaufmann (SUI) bt [8] Alina Poessl (SUI) 3-2: 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-4 (36m)
[5] Katriona Allen (SCO) bt Au Yeong Wai Yhann (SGP) 3-1: 13-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7 (36m)
[3] Celine Walser (SUI) bt Maria Arseniev (RUS) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (19m)
[4] Taba Taghavi (FRA) bt Tamara Holzbauerova (CZE) 3-0: 11-9, 11-4, 11-4 (24m)
[6] Sofia Mateos (ESP) bt Kate Gadola (SUI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 (21m)
[7] Eva Fertekova (CZE) bt Polly Clark (ENG) 3-1: 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 16-14 (38m)
[2] Nadia Pfister (SUI) bt Caroline Bachem (SUI) 3-2: 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 14-12 (37m)
Men’s Round One
[1] Rui Soares (POR) bt [WC] Joel Siewerdt (SUI) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 13-11 (27m)
[14] Nils Roesch (SUI) bt [WC] Nero Harms (SUI) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-1 (15m)
[12] Stuart MacGregor (ENG) bt David Maier (LIE) 3-0: 11-7, 11-2, 14-12 (48m)
[6] Robin Gadola (SUI) bt [WC] Nils Herzberg (GER) 3-0: 11-1, 11-2, 11-3 (16m)
[WC] David Bernet (SUI) bt [5] Ivan Perez (ESP) 3-2: 16-14, 7-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-5 (72m)
Nilo Vidal (ESP) bt [15] Makar Esin (RUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-6 (33m)
[16] Manu Paquemar (FRA) bt Tobias Weggen (GER) 3-1: 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 (35m)
[4] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt [WC] Nico Mathis (SUI) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-2 (18m)
[3] Nick Wall (ENG) bt Jakob Kanel (SUI) 3-1: 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6 (30m)
[11] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) bt [WC] Campbell Wells (SUI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (28m)
[9] Abhishek Pradhan (IND) bt Fabian Igelbrink (GER) 3-0: 11-5, 11-0, 11-3 (18m)
[7] Vladislav Titov (RUS) bt Adam Sinkule (CZE) 3-1: 11-5, 11-13, 11-2, 11-3 (23m)
[8] Yuri Furneti (ITA) bt Paul Gonzalez (FRA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (38m)
[10] Cedric Kuchen (SUI) bt [WC] Marlon Bernegger (SUI) 3-0: 11-7, 11-0, 11-1 (21m)
[13] Javier Martin (ESP) bt [WC] Noah Mannhart (SUI) 3-0; 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (20m)
[2] Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt Luca Zatti (SUI) 3-0: 11-7, 1-5, 11-7 (20m)