Raj Nanda notched his second challenger title of the season—both with former Trinity Bantams—adding the 2014 Pittsburgh Challenger alongside Baset Chaudhry to his season-opening Charlottesville challenger title with Jonny Smith.
The eight-team main draw restricted to players outside the top eight ranked players in the world vied for a $15,000 prize purse at the Pittsburgh Golf Club in the first edition of the Pittsburgh Challenger to be held under the Squash Doubles Association banner. Under the ISDA aegis in 2011 and 2010, Nanda reached the semifinals with Sunny Hunt and won the tournament with Smith respectively.
Unseeded Nanda & Chaudhry began their campaign with a three-game, first-round win against local tandem David Edwards & Michael Foster 15-12, 15-8, 15-12. In the semifinals, world No. 15 and 38 Nanda & Chaudhry upset two seeds and world No. 22 and 24 Graham Bassett & Ian Power in three games 15-10, 15-8, 15-9.
One seeds Will Mariani & Greg Park met Nanda & Chaudry in the final, however their route to the final was rockier. After a first-round victory in four games against Carl Baglio & Andres Vargas, world No. 27 Mariani and Park—the highest ranked player in the draw at 13—fought off two match balls in the fifth game to hold off brothers Dan & John Roberts.
A closely-contested final saw two games decided at 14-all, as Nanda & Chaudry came away with the victory in four games 15-14, 15-9, 14-15, 15-10.