ABERYSTWYTH squash professional Rhys Evans produced his own masterpiece at the prestigious Mozart Open in Salzburg.

Evans, 20, defied the odds and silenced a partisan home crowd to beat tournament favourite and local hero Aqeel Rehman to become the Salzburg Open champion.

Evans, of Southgate, overwhelmed the Number 1 seed on a full glass showcourt erected in the centre of the massive Europark shopping centre to clinch his second Professional Squash Association (PSA) Challenger Tour title.

The victory, in front of hundreds of fans and shoppers, represented the biggest achievement of Evans’ fledgling career and took his PSA world ranking to a career high 158.

Evans had to take the hard route to the final, dispatching Egyptian No 3 seed Omar el Torkey (world 144) in the quarter-final and compatriot and No 2 seed Khaled Labib (world 116) in the semi-final to set up the grandstand finale with Salzburg-born Rehman.

Rhys Evans has risen from 823 to 177 in the world rankings in a short spell of time
Rhys Evans is soaring up the world rankings (Pic supplied)

However, the vociferous crowd were silenced as Evans unleashed his full repertoire of touch and power to sweep aside local favourite Rehman, the former world No 81 who had won the tournament twice previously.

Evans said: “I’m delighted to have defied all the odds to win this prestigious tournament, which is my proudest moment to date.

“The setting of the glass showcourt in the middle of the enormous Europark centre provided a wonderful spectacle for the crowd and I was so happy to be able to produce some of my best squash in front of all those people.

“At times it felt as if I was playing against all of Salzburg but gradually I was able to calm them down and I’m proud of myself for how I was able to overcome all the pressure.”

Evans follows some household names of squash such as Gregoire Marche and Nicolas Muller in winning the prized Mozart title.

It’s been a busy month for the young squash professional.

Evans followed up his Salzburg heroics by competing in the Gibraltar Open last month, where he lost a closely-fought semi final against eventual winner, Moustafa Elsirty, who has a career-high world ranking of 22.

Evans will be hoping to finish the season on a high later this month when he competes in the Bremer Schussel tournament in Bremen, Germany.

Rhys, who began playing squash as an eight-year-old with his father, Jason, at the Plascrug Leisure Centre, was Welsh champion at every age level before joining the professional ranks last year.

Having already represented Wales at senior level during the team championships in Helsinki last year, there will be no let-up to his busy schedule as he continues his rise through the ranks.