Parke Crushes Nicol To Reach English Open Final

Yorkshire qualifier Simon Parke pulled off the ultimate giant-killing act in squash when he upset the world No1 and top seed Peter Nicol in a dramatic 70-minute semi-final in the Mamut English Open, hosted by Sheffield City Council, today at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Parke, 32, a former world No3 now languishing outside the top 30, has burst back into the limelight after a serious period of training over the summer. His 10-15 15-9 15-6 15-3 victory was his first over Nicol since beating his compatriot in the semi-finals of the US Open in December 1999 - an event he went on to win.

"I played the game at Peter's pace in the first game," conceded Parke, who is originally from Harrogate, but now based in Nottingham. "But after that I stepped the pace up and it paid dividends."

Nicol, who is also the co-organiser of the $45,000 PSA Tour event, added: "He was playing at a really fast pace, and attacking, but attacking with deep balls. I couldn't get hold of anything, couldn't find any opportunity to attack myself."

In his capacity as event promoter, Nicol will no doubt be delighted that the Crucible crowd will be entertained by a truly all-Yorkshire final: Parke will meet second seed Lee Beachill, the world No2 from Pontefract who conceded his first game of the tournament in beating club-mate James Willstrop 15-11 12-15 15-3 15-10 in 71 minutes.

Both losing semi-finalists survived tough battles to reach the last four - Nicol avenging last year's defeat by Anthony Ricketts in a four-game victory over the Australian in 75 minutes, and Willstrop, the world junior champion, fighting back from 0/2 down to upset Scotland's defending champion John White in a 90-minute marathon.