The major factor of the 2011 Squash Yukon Open seemed to be the absence of Julien Revel – who won the event for the past three years.

His absence opened up the floor to another champion.

Enter 23-year-old Jason Jobin, who lost to Revel in the Squash Yukon Division 1 finals 1-3 (7-15, 11-15, 15-13, 12-15) at the end of April.

"He got me in the league finals a couple weeks ago. He's a great player, so any tournament he's not in, I breathe a little easier. But at the same time I'm gunning for him,” Jobin said with a laugh.

Jobin squared off against B.C.'s Abel Chua – son of Squash Yukon head coach and former pro Khoon Chua – in the A Finals of this year's open.

The Whitehorse player took the first game 15-12, despite feeling a little under the weather, but lost the pivotal second game to the shorter, speedier Chua 14-16.

But Jobin, who towered over his opponent, was too much for the visitor, and took the third and fourth games 15-7 and 15-5 for the win.

"One step and he's all over the court; tough to get around him,” Chua said breathlessly after the match. "It's hard to move him around, because in one step he's wherever he wants to be.”

Chua was visiting Whitehorse from Langley, B.C., for the past week, and won silver with Khoon, bronze with sister Shermain and bronze in the open men's singles at the Yukon Badminton Championships the previous weekend.

Both he and Jobin went undefeated at this year's Squash Yukon Open.

Chua knocked off Stephen Grundmanis 3-2 in his first game, followed up with another 3-2 win over Phil Jackson and a 3-1 win over Lorne Harris to reach the finals.

Jobin never lost a game in his road to the finals, beating Mustafa Syed and Tyler Nesgaard 3-0.

"I haven't played so many tournaments in the Yukon, so I'm very happy to win it,” said Jobin, former president of the UVic Squash Club. "We didn't really get that many people out to play in this one. Julien is the incumbent, and he's not here, so

I'll take it wherever I can get it.”

He admitted to getting nervous when he lost the first game of the tournament to Chua in the finals, calling the drop a "meltdown” which shifted the momentum.

"Losing the second game, you think, ‘I've got so much more work to do, because I could have gotten him in three games, and could already be having a beer,' when you have to keep playing and playing,” he said.

"The second game is probably the most important, because if you're down one and you win it you're tied, and if you're up one win you're up two – so you can be really dominant.

"The third game I played a lot better, I didn't hit as many tins, so that worked out for me, and by the fourth I had the momentum.”

"I was worried he would come out really strong in the fourth, and matches tend to do that, swing back and fourth, because you have a really big effort, you win the third and you're really tired for the fourth, and they have a really big effort because they're against the wall.”

Chua was on the junior squash circuit in B.C. but hadn't played in a tourney in more than two years, he said.

Coming from behind to win the second game brought him some hope, he said.

"It always feels good when you make a comeback half-way through a game, especially when you're down 14-10; it feels good to just get a set off,” said Chua, who started playing squash in grade 3 but switched to badminton by grade 8.

This was his first time competing in a tournament in the Yukon.

"It's different competition, new faces. In B.C., you play everybody a few times, you're playing the same people; here there's new people to play.”

"I'm a bit out of shape. But I was still moving OK,” Chua said.

Finals results are as follows:

A Finals

Jason Jobin beat Abel Chua 15-12, 14-16, 15-7, 15-5

B Finals

Doug Thorseth beat Kai Knorr 15-7, 15-11, 15-9

Men's C Finals

Erik Jacobsen beat Ehsan Idrees 15-11, 15-10, 15-9

Ladies C Finals

Shermaine Chua beat Shari Knorr 15-11, 15-7, 11-15, 15-8

Mixed D Finals

Joanne Heyes beat Jeremy Locke 14-16, 15-10, 17-15, 15-7