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Chris Hanson wins the first-ever Kiva Club Open

9/20/2015

 
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Chris Hanson (left) beat Jesus Camacho to win the first-ever Kiva Club Open.
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Camacho (left) is a 17-year-old from Mexico.
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Hanson, 24, is from Greenwich, CT. He is ranked world No. 85.
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The match had an appreciative standing-room-only crowd at the Kiva Club.
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Camacho (left) frustrated Hanson in the second game by retrieving shot after shot.
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Hanson (left) and Camacho (right).
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In the final game, Camacho slipped and sat on the court with a leg cramp. He scored just one point after that.
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The victory was Hanson's first-ever PSA tournament win.
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Camacho was applauded by the crowd as he left the court.
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Hanson leaving the court after his victory.
     No. 1 seed Chris Hanson won his first PSA tournament on Sunday, beating the unseeded Jesus Camacho at the Kiva Club Open in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
    Hanson, who is 24-years-old, beat the 17-year-old Camacho in four games, 11-9, 4-11, 11-7, 11-4.
    Hanson is world No. 85. Camacho is No. 202.
    Throughout the match, both players tended to hit to his opponent's backhand. Because Hanson is a lefty and Camacho is a righty, this meant a lot of cross-courts.
     Hanson jumped to 6-1 lead in the first game, but Camacho battled back to trail by two at 4-6. Hanson reasserted himself to go ahead 8-4, but Camacho battled back again and again to trail by two at 6-8 and 7-9 -- and then tied it up at 9-9.
    Camacho tinned an overhead backhand to make it 9-10, then Hanson hit a drop that Camacho couldn't reach. Game to Hanson, 11-9. It took 18 minutes.
    The second game was all Camacho. He jumped to a 9-2 lead, frustrating Hanson by retrieving every shot. Hanson won two more points with drops that Camacho couldn't reach, but Camacho returned the favor at game point to win it 11-4. It was a 10-minute game.
     Both players changed to clean shirts for the third game, and both players started even, trading points to make it 4-4. Then Camacho tinned four shots in a row to trail 4-8 before hitting a tight, low rail that Hanson couldn't reach. 
    But Hanson kept the pressure on, and got to game point at 10-6. He took the game, 11-7, in 14 minutes.
    Camacho changed his shirt for the fourth game. 
    With Hanson leading 4-3, Camacho slipped, missed a return and sat on the court with a leg cramp. Within a few minutes he was back up, racing about the court, but Hanson rushed ahead with five straight points to make it 9-3.
    Hanson took the game, 11-4, and the match, three games to one.
    The match lasted exactly an hour.
    Hanson had only been tested in the tournament in his semi-final match against qualifier Ahmad Alzabidi, which went to five games. Hanson's other matches were quick, three-game affairs against unseeded players.
    Camacho's route to the finals went through three seeded players -- No.2 Fred Reid, No 8. Auguste Dussourd and No. 4 Faraz Khan.
    Hanson was born in New York, graduated from Dartmouth and now lives in Greenwich, CT.
    Camacho was born in Mexico City and now lives in Cuautitlan Izcali, Mexico.
    The Kiva Club Open was the first PSA tournament in New Mexico in about 15 years. The tournament had $5,000 in prize money. The winner received $902.50, the runner up $617.50 and the rest was divided up among the other players.



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Kiva Club squash pro Drewe Williams damp-mopped the court before the final match to make sure the floor wasn't slippery.

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