Power Survives Parke Marathon In St Louis

Top-seeded Canadian Jonathon Power survived a marathon first round encounter in his comeback after injury at the St Louis Open when he fought back from 1/2 down to beat English qualifier Simon Parke in 84 minutes in this new $30,000 PSA Tour event in Missouri, USA.

The match truly lived up to its billing. It was not only the clash that the fans wanted to see, but also the one that captured the attention of the other players. Missouri Athletic Club Squash Pro Michael Puertas described it later as perhaps the best competition he had ever seen in his 21 years in squash!

Power controlled the pace of the match and never seemed to be under too much pressure. His English opponent proved that he was in top condition and won the crowd with his "never say die" effort.

The Canadian set the tone in game one and controlled the pace with a mix of good lengths and well-timed drop shots. He took the game and many thought Parke may be overmatched.

In the second, it was Parke that took control and he never gave up the lead. Power surged late and won several hotly-contested rallies but could not overcome the deficit. On game ball, Parke played a magnificent shot that Power strongly protested as "down". It was clear to all but Jonathon Power, however, that Parke had successfully played the ball.

Power was clearly still fuming over this in game three: Parke hustled out every ball and dominated, winning the game and the awed crowd.

But it was not to be for the 32-year-old from Nottingham. Power gathered himself, and in spite of a few tantrums and unforced errors he controlled the pace in the fourth game to draw level.

It was only fitting that the encounter went the full distance. Unlikely as it seems, Parke appeared to get stronger in the decider. The Montreal-based Canadian pushed Parke's endurance to the limit, but Parke never quit. At the end of the most hotly-contested game of the match, however, Power prevailed to win 11-6 9-11 3-11 11-8 11-8 to earn his anticipated place in the quarter-finals.

His opponent will be Anthony Ricketts, the sixth seed from Australia who beat another English qualifier Ben Garner 11-6 11-3 8-11 11-9 in 40 minutes.

In stark contrast to the top seed's battle, the No2 seed Amr Shabana took just 20 minutes to reserve his place in the last eight. The world champion from Egypt beat Paul Price after the Australian conceded the match with the score at 11-4 11-4 4-0 in Shabana's favour.

1st round:
[1] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [Q] Simon Parke (ENG) 11-6, 9-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-8 (84m)
[6] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [Q] Ben Garner (ENG) 11-6, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9 (40m)
[3] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [Q] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-4, 11-10 (5-3), 6-11, 11-7 (51m)
[8] Graham Ryding (CAN) bt Mark Chaloner (ENG) 11-10 (2-0), 11-3, 4-11, 11-6 (56m)
[5] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) bt Michael Puertas (USA) 3-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (43m)
[4] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Alex Gough (WAL) 6-11, 11-8, 11-1, 11-2 (52m)
[7] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt [Q] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-10 (2-0) (55m)
[2] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Paul Price (AUS) 11-4, 11-4, 4-0 ret. (20m)