Lane Lands Top Seed Scalp In Montreal

In what he has described as the "biggest win of my career", US qualifier Gilly Lane defeated top-seeded Englishman Peter Barker in the opening round of the National Bank Financial Group International in Canada to claim an unexpected place in the quarter-finals of the $40,000 PSA World Tour squash event at Midtown Le Sporting Club Sanctuaire in Montreal.

It was only 24 hours earlier that the US number two from Philadelphia battled back from two games down to beat another Englishman Robbie Temple in an 88-minute marathon to earn his place in the main draw.

But Lane, the 24-year-old world No 59, recovered from a game down to beat Barker - the world No7 from London who won his first PSA Tour title in Canada - 7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-6 in 63 minutes.

"It was just a very hard fought win," said Lane later. "The court is very bouncy and I was just trying to stick in and play solid squash. Peter's game is something that I try to aspire to so I think I had that in the back of my mind to keep pushing as much as I did.

"I have been working really hard lately and I'm really pleased with this win. It is definitely the best win of my squash career."

Lane now lines up against local hero Shahier Razik, the seventh seed from Toronto who also had to overcome a first game deficit to beat unseeded German Simon Rosner 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 14-12 in a 75-minute first round encounter.

But Lane was not the only qualifier to make the last eight: Australian Scott Arnold, who survived two qualifying rounds, fought for 86 minutes to get the better of sixth seed Hisham Mohd Ashour, ultimately edging through in a lengthy fifth-game tie-break to beat the Egyptian 11-9, 4-11, 10-12, 11-9, 16-14.

The Sydney-born 24-year-old now faces Adrian Grant, the second seed from England who was stretched to four games over 87 minutes before finally despatching Canadian qualifier Shawn Delierre 16-14, 11-5, 12-14, 11-4.

1st round:
[Q] Gilly Lane (USA) bt [1] Peter Barker (ENG) 7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-6 (63m)
[7] Shahier Razik (CAN) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 14-12 (75m)
[4] Daryl Selby (ENG) bt Maxym Leclair (CAN) 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 (27m)
[5] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt [Q] Campbell Grayson (NZL) 5-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-2, 11-3 (60m)
[8] Tom Richards (ENG) bt Martin Knight (NZL) 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 (50m)
[3] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Rafael F Alarcon (BRA) 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 (46m)
[Q] Scott Arnold (AUS) bt [6] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 11-9, 4-11, 10-12, 11-9, 16-14 (86m)
[2] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [Q] Shawn Delierre (CAN) 16-14, 11-5, 12-14, 11-4 (87m)