Rodriguez Revenge Provides Popular Colombia Win In Bogotá

Colombia's Miguel Angel Rodriguez avenged his defeat by Julian Illingworth in the Pan American Games semi-finals in July when he beat the American in the first round of the Club El Nogal Colombian Open to become the only local player to survive the first round of the $25,000 PSA Tour squash event at Club El Nogal in the Colombian capital Bogotá.

It took Illingworth, the three-times US National champion from Portland, 95 minutes to earn last month's upset over Rodriguez in Rio de Janeiro which took him into the gold medal play-off. But this time Rodriguez was keen to do well in his home city in the first major event on home soil since Colombia stunned the squash world by taking the Pan Am Games team gold medal for the first time.

Illingworth took the opening game, but 21-year-old Rodriguez - runner-up in the event last year - fought back to impose his authority on the match, eventually winning 8-11, 11-7, 11-1, 11-5 in 46 minutes, much to the delight of the partisan audience.

Fellow Colombian Bernardo Samper, however, was unable to join Rodriguez in the second round. The unseeded Colombian number two faced England's top seed Adrian Grant. After dropping the first game, 25-year-old Samper battled from 6-all in the second to draw level.

But, in what was described by local organiser Juan Carlos Santacruz as a "fantastic match" in which Samper "played his best squash ever in a Colombian PSA tournament", Grant regained the upper hand before coming through an 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7 winner after 48 minutes.

Germany's unseeded Simon Rosner pulled off the only surprise in the opening round, upsetting Canada's No6 seed Shawn Delierre 11-2, 11-8, 6-11, 10-11 (2-4), 11-10 (2-0) in a 79-minute marathon.

1st round:
[1] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt Bernardo Samper (COL) 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7 (48m)
[8] Rafael F Alarcon (BRA) bt Ernesto Lucena (COL) 11-3, 11-2, 11-10 (3-1) (23m)
[3] Borja Golan (ESP) bt [Q] Roberto Pezzota (ARG) 11-4, 11-4, 11-3 (18m)
[5] Eric Galvez (MEX) bt [Q] Christopher Gordon (USA) 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (17m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt [6] Shawn Delierre (CAN) 11-2, 11-8, 6-11, 10-11 (2-4), 11-10 (2-0) (79m)
[4] Joey Barrington (ENG) bt [Q] Ryan Donegan (USA) 11-3, 11-7, 11-3 (20m)
[7] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt Julian Illingworth (USA) 8-11, 11-7, 11-1, 11-5 (46m)
[2] Peter Barker (ENG) bt [Q] Scott Arnold (AUS) 11-6, 11-1, 11-3 (21m)