Price Upsets Darwish In Canadian Classic

Australian qualifier Paul Price twice came from behind to upset sixth seed Karim Darwish on the second day of first round action in the Pace Credit Union Canadian Classic at the Allen Lambert Galleria at BCE Place in Toronto.

Perhaps inspired by playing on 'home' soil, the currently Toronto-based Price defeated his Egyptian opponent 9-11 11-8 5-11 11-5 11-9 in 64 minutes. The victory over a player ranked 15 places higher in the world rankings will have pleased Price, from Melbourne, who failed to reach his seeding position in his previous two PSA Tour outings last month.

Price, ranked 23 in the world, will now meet unseeded Graham Ryding in the quarter-finals. Ryding delighted local crowds when he became the second Canadian to book a berth in the last eight after beating Joey Barrington - the Englishman who secured the 'lucky loser' slot in the main round after the last-minute withdrawal of fourth seed David Palmer.

Ryding seemed comfortably in charge against the 24-year-old son of the great British squash legend Jonah Barrington, taking the first game 11-6 and running to a 10-3 lead in the second. At this point, however, Barrington junior stopped hitting the tin with his forehand drives, hit a couple of winners and suddenly Ryding lost the initiative. There was nothing the Canadian could do about the streak and Barrington took an amazing nine points in a row to win the game 2-0 after a tie-break.

Barrington is known as a runner and many of his matches go the full distance - something Ryding was keen to avoid in a first round match. Ryding, a Toronto native who is ranked 20 in the world, was not about to lose in front of his home crowd to a player ranked 24 places below him. He came out for the third game in a determined mood and ran Barrington off the court 11-4 in just eight minutes. The fourth game took a little longer, but Ryding led from the beginning and had an answer for everything that Barrington tried, taking the game to complete his 11-6 10-11 11-4 11-6 victory in 42 minutes.

Lack of concentration, said Ryding, was the start of his troubles in that second game. "I must have let up a little bit and lost concentration and once he had won a couple of points I started to tighten up. I tried to relax and that made me play too tentatively," he explained. "Barrington is a bit of a comeback kid. He tightens his game up and closes you down. In the third game, I went back to what had been working, moving the ball around the court and playing a little quicker and that took Joey out of his rhythm."

France's No2 seed Thierry Lincou took just 42 minutes to secure his quarter-final position, beating Australia's Dan Jenson 11-6 11-3 11-10. Lincou, the world No2 from Marseille, will face another Australian for a place in the last four. Eighth seed Joseph Kneipp, the Amsterdam-based world No10 from Brisbane, overcame a first game loss to defeat English qualifier Peter Barker 9-11 11-3 11-2 11-7 in exactly one hour.

The full quarter-final line-up:
[1] Lee Beachill (ENG) v Anthony Ricketts (AUS)
[3] Peter Nicol (ENG) v [7] Jonathon Power (CAN)
Graham Ryding (CAN) v [Q] Paul Price (AUS)
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v [8] Joseph Kneipp (AUS)

1st round:
[Q] Paul Price (AUS) bt [6] Karim Darwish (EGY) 9-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9 (64m)
Graham Ryding (CAN) bt Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-6, 10-11 (0-2), 11-4, 11-6 (62m)
[8] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) bt [Q] Peter Barker (ENG) 9-11, 11-3, 11-2, 11-7 (60m)
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Dan Jenson (AUS) 11-6, 11-3, 11-10 (2-0) (42m)