New Zealand's Paul Coll has been beaten by Peru's Diego Elias in the final of the Qatar Squash Classic at Doha.
Coll lost to his good friend Elias, who won his maiden major title, in an entertaining final where both players had their opportunities to take victory.
Coll staged a comeback in the second game, after dropping the first, and then had chances to win the third, but Elias kept his cool, winning 13-11 5-11 13-11 11-9.
Aside from being a notable win for a player from Peru, it was the first Platinum tournament since 2017 where no Egyptian man has featured in the final.
"Just very happy to be a Platinum champion for the first time," says Elias. "I have been trying for a long time now, Paul is my closest friend on tour and it is the first time in forever that there are no Egyptians in a final, so we were very happy for that!
"He is such a great champion, he is an inspiration for anyone that plays squash or any sport really. I am a massive fan too and I train with him too."
Coll is disappointed at opportunities he didn't take to win the title.
"It is hard to see those [positives] now, but I am happy to be back here in Doha, competing in another final on such a great stage," says the Kiwi.
"To everyone who helps me out, especially my coaches - Bart [Wijnhoven], my mental coach, and Rob Owen, my squash coach - I thought we had a good plan this week, unfortunately, I just didn't quite convert it. I had game balls tonight in every set, but I just couldn't close it out."
After a run of half a dozen tournaments in close succession, Coll will take a break before his next event at Canary Wharf in London in mid-November.
Since late August, Coll has won the British Open, was a semifinalist at the Egyptian Open, a beaten finalist at San Francisco, and lost in the US Open quarter-finals and the Doha final.
