Arnold Beats Partner Cuskelly To Reap Golden Success In Kalgoorlie
The 21-year-old from Sydney said skipping last week's City of Perth International probably gave him the edge over fellow his New South Welshman in the final of the Satellite event in the West Australian gold mining centre.
Arnold beat 19-year-old Cuskelly, the No2 seed, 11-10 (5-3), 2-11, 11-7, 11-7 in 59 minutes in a battle of the next generation of Australian squash stars.
Arnold and Cuskelly train with the Australian Institute of Sport in Brisbane, where they are both training partners and flat mates.
"We live together and train with each other so we know each other pretty well," Arnold said. "Once we get on court, we're both pretty competitive, but when we come off we're best of mates again."
Arnold has now won two tournaments in three successive finals over the past month, in Joondalup and Kalgoorlie, and has seen his world ranking rise to 78.
He said a solid month's training with AIS coaches Byron Davis and Rodney Martin had paved the way for his run of successes.
"I think he felt the effects of playing four weeks straight," Arnold said. "I took last week off and that made me a bit fresher. That week off was probably the only difference between us.
RESULTS: Fluid Line Golden Squash Open, YMCA Squash Centre, Kalgoorlie, WA, Australia
1st round:
[1] Scott Arnold (AUS) bt Nathan Turnbull (AUS) 11-8, 11-10 (2-0), 11-9
[7] William Newnham (ENG) bt Neeraj Aggarwal (AUS) 11-7, 11-4, 11-9
[Q] Zac Alexander (AUS) bt [4] Jacob Lohrisch (AUS) 11-3, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4
[Q] Dong Woo Kim (KOR) bt [5] Chris Truswell (ENG) 11-6, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4
[Q] Paul Ratcliff (AUS) bt [8] Nathan Stevenson (AUS) 3-11, 10-11 (2-4), 11-5, 11-7, 11-6
[3] Joseph Desira (AUS) bt [Q] Navin Samarasinghe (SRI) 5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5
Will Jones (SCO) bt [6] Justin Beard (AUS) 11-10 (4-2), 11-4, 11-10 (2-0)
[2] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt Patrick Woods (AUS) 11-10 (3-1), 11-5, 11-10 (2-0)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Scott Arnold (AUS) bt [7] William Newnham (ENG) 11-0, 11-0, 11-1 (20m)
[Q] Zac Alexander (AUS) bt [Q] Dong Woo Kim (KOR) 5-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 11-8 (50m)
[Q] Paul Ratcliff (AUS) bt [3] Joseph Desira (AUS) 11-10 (2-0), 8-11, 11-10 (2-0), 1-11, 11-9 (60m)
[2] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt Will Jones (SCO) 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 (30m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Scott Arnold (AUS) bt [Q] Zac Alexander (AUS) 11-10 (2-0), 10-11 (0-2), 11-10 (2-0), 7-11, 11-7 (60m)
[2] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt [Q] Paul Ratcliff (AUS) 11-4, 11-9, 3-1 ret. (19m)
Final:
[1] Scott Arnold (AUS) bt [2] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 11-10 (5-3), 2-11, 11-7, 11-7 (59m)