This tournament has been a happy hunting ground at times for Castagnet in the past, with victory over Egypt’s Omar Mosaad in the 2016 final seeing him win his biggest title on the PSA Tour.
A string of injuries have seen Castagnet slide down the rankings from a career-high No.6 ranking, but he rolled back the years with a fearless display against the German No.1 to claim his first win over Rösner at the seventh attempt.
All of those matches were played using a best-of-five games format, however the best of three format – which is being trialled in Canary Wharf for a second successive year – looked to play into his hands as he attacked well and used the lob intelligently to complete an 11-8, 3-11, 11-9 victory in 55 minutes.
“The first, and the last, time I beat Simon Rösner was when I was 16 or 17 years old,” Castagnet said.
“It was at the French Junior Open. Since then, in leagues, exhibitions, PSA tournaments, European Team Championships, all the time he beats me 3-2, 3-1, 3-0. So when I reached my first match ball against him in the seniors, if I had to put the ball to the back of the court a thousand times, I would.
“I don’t know if we can say that in English, but he is like my ‘black beast’. All the injuries I have had, it is such an amazing game for me today. I have so much respect for him and we are close friends, but I really enjoyed that moment because I worked so hard to be back at my best and to live that moment, it is something special to me, to be honest.”
Castagnet will line up against 2017 runner-up Fares Dessouky for a place in the semi-finals after the World No.67 defeated home favourite Daryl Selby 11-5, 11-2. Dessouky has recently recovered from an ACL tear which saw him miss out on appearing at this tournament last year, but he came close to lifting this title two years ago, ultimately losing out to legendary Englishman Nick Matthew in the title decider. READ MORE
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