RESULTS: Bymac Leinster Squash Open, Dublin, Ireland
Semi-finals:
[Q] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) bt [1] Kashif Shuja (NZL) 13-11, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9
[2] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt [Q] Gregoire Marche (FRA) 9-11, 11-5, 12-14, 11-4, 11-1
Final:
[2] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt [Q] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) 11-5, 11-4, 11-6
South African Stephen Coppinger celebrated the first squash title triumph in the city of his birth when he beat Finland's Henrik Mustonen in the final of the Bymac Leinster Open, the $10,000 PSA World Tour event at the Fitzwilliam Club in Dublin, Ireland.
Mustonen, a 19-year-old qualifier, had proved the story of the tournament after producing some stunning squash to come through the qualifiers, then knock out top seed Kashif Shuja from New Zealand in a thrilling five-game semi-final.
Second seed Coppinger, the world No54 who was born in Dublin but raised in Durban, also had to overcome a qualifier in the semi-finals - surviving another five-game battle against French teenager Gregoire Marche.
Mustonen, however, was unable to reproduce his earlier form in the final as Coppinger stormed to an 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 victory over the Finn ranked more than 50 places lower.
The win marks the fourth PSA Tour title of Coppinger's career - but his first since April 2007.