THE summer of memorable finals continued at Gala Squash Club last week.

Defending champion Tony Elliot, who was aiming for three titles in a row, faced Kevin Douglas in a repeat of the 2018 final.

Club stalwart Andy Waddell was the referee and he got the players started promptly after the five minute warm up.

After winning the spin Tony took the hand and reeled off a couple of quick points.

Both players tried to keep the ball tight to the wall and both produced some good squash.

But Tony was keeping the ball tighter to the wall than Kev and progressed his lead to 6-3 and then 12-6.

An uncharacteristic fluffed drop shot by Tony gave Kev the hand back, and he took full advantage with his fast style of serve to command the rallies and get it back to 12-10.

Tony, though, got the hand back and hardly missed a thing after that and took the first 15-11.

The second game went point for point until it was 3-2 for Kev - then a cross court drive by Kev saw Tony pull up a bit and his pace slowed.

The defending champion felt a niggle in his groin and his pace slowed and movement reduced.

Kevin capitalised by sending the ball from left to right and went 7-2 and 10-3 up.

But Tony shook off his problem and regained focus.

A deft drop to the front corner was out of reach of Kev and brought Tony back into the game.

Tony soon got it back to 13-9 but his movement was still not quite there and Kev, who has one of the hardest hits at the club, played a couple of full length shots with pace and took the second 15-10.

After a couple of minutes breather, Tony seemed to come back refreshed and it was game-on.

The defending champ was back to his usual squash and hardly missed a shot despite Kev’s best efforts raced into to a 9-3 lead.

The third game eventually went to Tony 15-9.

The tension could be felt by the spectators in the viewing gallery.

But normal service resumed with Tony settling into his play to take a 7-3 then 10-4 lead.

Kevin rallied and brought the fourth game back to 11-9.

But Tony seemed to find that extra gear when it mattered and remained focussed like a true champion to win 15-9 for a 3-1 victory.

Match referee Andy Waddell commented on the high standard of speed and skill throughout the match.