South African Stephen Coppinger justified his top billing in the Hibiscus Gardens Open when he downed New Zealand's Martin Knight in today's final of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Hibiscus Gardens Squash Centre in Brisbane, Australia.

The world number 39 from Cape Town won a high quality final 11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8 to claim the seventh Tour title of his career and his second of the year.

Coppinger and Knight are separated by only 13 places on the world rankings and they were evenly matched throughout the opening two games.

However, the Kiwi began to show signs of fatigue at the start of the third and Coppinger took full advantage.

The 26-year-old top seed stepped up his attack at the start of both the third and fourth games, seizing on his opponent's mistakes and racing away to big leads.

Knight fought hard but he was unable to make an impression and the South African added the Brisbane title to the Finnish Open he won in February.

"It was a really, really tough match so I was delighted to get through," said Coppinger.

"I really had to regroup after the second and force myself to make the pace, to get onto the T and to push him around the court rather than the other way round."

Coppinger said he realised Knight, who had a tough semi-final win on Saturday, was tiring after the second game.

"We both put a massive effort into the second game - I sensed he was tiring towards the end of that game. It's easy when you are winning the game to stay pumped up but after the rest between games, I think it took its toll."

Knight conceded he had lost concentration in the third game after battling hard to get the final back on terms.

"I hung back and was trying to control the ball and play a more controlled, accurate pace, but he was a bit more frantic and he was able to cut the ball off and do a bit with it," said the Wellington-born 27-year-old.

"I got back a little bit in the fourth, but my legs gave way - I was tired."

RESULTS: PSA Challenger 15 Hibiscus Gardens Open, Brisbane, Australia

Final:
[1] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt [2] Martin Knight (NZL) 11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8 (75m)