Price On Course For Second Santa Barbara Success

Defending champion Paul Price is on course to win his second successive title in the DARE Santa Barbara Open after beating eighth seed Matthew Giuffre in straight games in the semi-finals in Santa Barbara, USA. The top seed's opponent will be the No2 seed Alex Gough who needed four games to overcome England's Stacey Ross.

Price, the world No 20 from Melbourne in Australia, again looked solid and volleyed well - playing more consistently than his Canadian opponent who made too many errors. After just 26 minutes, Price had claimed his 11-7 11-6 11-1 victory.

Long tough rallies, with both players volleying and attacking, characterised the other semi-final between Welshman Gough and the unseeded Englishman. Ross has consistently out-performed his status in the draw in his last three PSA Tour outings - and led five times in the first game before Gough finally pulled clear.

Had Ross won the first game, the final outcome might have been different - as he took the second and matched Gough throughout the remainder of the encounter. The Welshman's greater experience, however, ultimately prevailed as Gough claimed his 11-9 8-11 11-8 11-9 victory after 62 minutes.

Semi-finals:
[1] Paul Price (AUS) bt [8] Matthew Giuffre (CAN) 11-7, 11-6, 11-1 (26m)
[2] Alex Gough (WAL) bt Stacey Ross (ENG) 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9 (62m)