Power Punishes Palmer In Pakistan

After two successive losses to the Australian this year, Canada's fifth seed Jonathon Power made amends today with an 11-7 11-7 5-11 11-7 win in 50 minutes over top seed David Palmer in the quarter-finals of the Bank Alfalah Pakistan Open in Islamabad.

Power, the defending champion from Montreal who is competing in his eighth PSA Tour event since September, now meets another Australian Anthony Ricketts for a place in the final. Ricketts, the tenth seed who is looking for his first win over the Canadian, upset France's seventh seed Gregory Gaultier 11-7 5-11 11-5 11-6 in 50 minutes.

England's rapidly improving James Willstrop added another notable scalp to his collection when he defeated Egypt's Amr Shabana in just 20 minutes. Third seed Shabana, the 2003 world champion, conceded the match after two games.

"I'm OK, but I twisted my knee last week in Qatar," Shabana told Framboise Gommendy of www.squashsite.co.uk. "Today, it's very sore, so I've got to be careful, so I had to stop the match. But James was playing very well today."

Willstrop, the eighth seed, now looks forward to a semi-final clash with fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew, the No2 seed. Matthew ended local interest in the event with a five-game defeat of brave qualifier Shahid Zaman - but the 24-year-old from Sheffield had to fight back from 1/2 down to overcome the local hero 11-5 7-11 10-11 11-3 11-6 in 62 minutes.

Quarter-finals:
[5] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [1] David Palmer (AUS) 11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7 (50m)
[10] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [7] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 11-7, 5-11, 11-5, 11-6 (50m)
[8] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [3] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-9, 11-7 ret. (20m)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [Q] Shahid Zaman (PAK) 11-5, 7-11, 10-11 (1-3), 11-3, 11-6 (62m)