Seeds Sink As Windy City Storm Follows Chicago Calm

After three days of action in which all the favoured players prevailed, three of the four top seeds failed to make the semi-finals of the Infor Windy City Open in the first day of shocks in the second PSA Super Series Silver event of the year in Chicago, USA.

The biggest casualty was second seed David Palmer, the defending champion from Australia who crashed out 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 in 53 minutes to compatriot Anthony Ricketts.

The win marked the 27-year-old from Sydney's first PSA Tour victory over Australian team-mate Palmer in nine career meetings since June 2001.

"I'd never beaten David on the PSA circuit, so I'm very happy, obviously," Ricketts told www.squashsite.co.uk. "I had had such a bad run of injuries during the past months, I really wanted to prove something last week (in Toronto) and put so much pressure on myself to try and make the semis or the final - whereas this week, I was much more relaxed and just decided to enjoy my time here in Chicago."

Third seed Thierry Lincou, the former world number one from France, also fell - beaten for the second time in three months by rising Egyptian star Ramy Ashour. The 19-year-old sixth seed secured the shortest win of the day, beating Lincou 11-8, 11-7, 11-10 (2-0) in 48 minutes.

But perhaps the most notable upset was achieved by John White, the US-based Scot who took out fourth seed Gregory Gaultier, the French star who is now ranked three in the world. Sporting a brand new racquet from sponsors Prince, White avenged his straight games defeat by the 24-year-old in last year's World Open to beat Gaultier 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-10 (3-1) in a 75-minute marathon.

"I could see from the start that he was not as relaxed as he normally is," said White. "I'm glad that my game plan came off. It's fantastic to beat the world number three and, at 33, still be able to beat those young spring chickens."

Quarter-finals:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [7] James Willstrop (ENG) 10-11 (0-2), 11-9, 11-9, 11-7 (75m)
[8] John White (SCO) bt [4] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-10 (3-1) (75m)
[6] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [3] Thierry Lincou (FRA) 11-8, 11-7, 11-10 (2-0) (48m)
[5] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [2] David Palmer (AUS) 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 (53m)