Angus Gillams seals eighth career title in Gibraltar

Scotland’s Angus Gillams secured his first PSA Tour title of 2019 with an impressive victory at the Gibraltar Open.

The 23-year-old came from a game down to beat Czech top seed Martin Svec 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 after 53 minutes in Sunday’s final at the Europa Sports Centre.

Second seed Gillams began his week with an 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (28m) win over England’s Ben Coates before showing his fighting qualities in the next two rounds.

His quarter-final match-up against Croatia’s Martin Kegel lasted 51 minutes with Gillams coming through four tight games victorious, 12-10, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8.

Angus’s semi-final went the distance, the Scot outlasting his opponent, fourth seed Stuart MacGregor (Eng), 5-11, 11-5, 11-8, 5-11, 11-3 (61 minutes).

And victory over Svec in the final means it’s an eighth career title for Doncaster-born Gillams who reached the semi-finals of the Austrian Open in Salzburg last month.

At the beginning of May, the recently qualified-Scot made his competitive debut for Scotland and played a key role in helping the men’s team secure bronze at the European Team Championships in Birmingham.

The Gibraltar Open was just his second PSA Tour event of the year after some time out the game but his recent efforts will propel his back towards the world’s top 100 with his highest ranking of 62 reached two years ago. Before this recent win he was sitting 128 in the world.

His return to competitive action continues later this month at the $28k QSF Open in Doha, Qatar (July 20-24) where he takes on Belgium’s Joeri Hapers (WR140) in round one.