Walker Takes Golan In Tournament of Champions Upset

Unseeded Englishman Alister Walker confounded the seedings in the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions when he upset Borja Golan, the 14th seed from Spain, to reach the second round of the $117,500 PSA Tour Super Series Gold squash event at Grand Central Terminal in New York.

"This is the tournament that gets you most excited," said Walker after his 9-11, 14-12, 11-1, 11-3 victory in 61 minutes. "And I think I was over-excited at the start of the match."

The Botswana-born 26-year-old now faces Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, the fourth seed who took just 19 minutes to book his place in the second round when English qualifier Daryl Selby retired injured midway through the third game.

The newly-installed world number one Karim Darwish, from Egypt, played with tremendous confidence in defeating Canada's Shahier Razik 11-3, 11-8, 11-2.

The evening's final match went the distance as Malaysia's Mohd Azlan Iskandar needed five games to secure victory over Hungary's Mark Krajcsak. "I'm relieved," said the 13th seed. "This is my first match back after injury and illness and it was a scrappy, win-at-all-costs affair."

1st round (lower half of draw):
[12] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt [Q] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) 11-8, 11-4, 14-12 (37m)
[6] David Palmer (AUS) bt [Q] Tarek Momen (EGY) 12-10, 11-8, 11-6 (43m)
Alister Walker (ENG) bt [14] Borja Golan (ESP) 9-11, 14-12, 11-1, 11-3 (61m)
[4] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-0, 11-3, 6-1 ret. (19m)
[13] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [Q] Mark Krajcsak (HUN) 12-10, 1-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-4 (73m)
[8] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 (28m)
[11] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [Q] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) 10-12, 11-8, 9-11, 11-1, 11-9 (92m)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-3, 11-8, 11-2 (32m)