Frost Bites Lane In Pilatus Upset

Unseeded Dane Kristian Frost Olesen produced the biggest upset in the Pilatus Cup when he ousted third seed Gilly Lane in a marathon first round battle in the inaugural PSA World Tour Challenger 10 squash event at Sportpark Pilatus in the Swiss town of Kriens.

After enduring two tie-break games which lasted almost an hour, the 22-year-old from Odense edged out Lane, ranked 16 places higher in the world, 10-12, 12-10, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5 in 90 minutes.

"I am my pleased to get through to the quarter-finals," said Olesen later. "It was a very hard match with Gilly and I am just happy that I pulled through in the end after a terrible game."

Olesen will now face fellow non-seed Lewis Walters after the 23-year-old Englishman disappointed the local crowd by beating wildcard player Reiko Peter, from nearby Luzern, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5, 15-13.

But German qualifier Andre Haschker also secured a surprise quarter-final place after upsetting England's higher-ranked Tom Pashley 11-4, 11-7, 12-10.

The Dresden-born 28-year-old will now line up against Stephane Galifi, the No2 seed from Italy who beat New Zealander Kashif Shuja 11-7, 11-4, 11-3.

"The good old diesel is still running," said the delighted Haschker afterwards. "Also I could feel that Tom's movement wasn't smooth today so I tried to exploit it.

"Tomorrow I play two-seeded Stephane Galifi. It's an honour for me to play such a big character in the quarterfinal. I will give all I have left in the tank."

Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Chris Simpson (ENG) v Steve Finitsis (AUS)
Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) v Lewis Walters (ENG)
[4] Julien Balbo (FRA) v [Q] Rasmus Nielsen (DEN)
[2] Stephane Galifi (ITA) v [Q] Andre Haschker (GER)