Stait & Boswell Burst Into English Open Qualifying Finals

England's Alex Stait and Australia's Stewart Boswell overcame higher-ranked opposition in tonight's first qualifying round of the Mamut English Open in Sheffield to reach the qualifying finals on Tuesday.

The Mamut English Open, hosted by Sheffield City Council and widely regarded as the first major event of the new international squash season, is now in its third year and gets underway on Wednesday at the Crucible Theatre, traditional home of the World Snooker Championships.

Alex Stait, 25, from Stroud in Gloucestershire, is competing in his first PSA Tour event since undergoing knee surgery in March. Currently ranked 73, Stait battled for five games to beat Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema, the world No32, 9-11 11-5 11-9 9-11 11-8 in 73 minutes - the only qualifying match to last more than an hour.

Later it transpired that Gloucestershire is guaranteed interest in the first round of the $45,000 four star PSA Tour event when Gloucester-based Alister Walker beat Essex's Daryl Selby 11-7 8-11 11-4 11-4 to set up a play-off with county colleague Stait.

Stewart Boswell is competing in his first major event since making his return to international competition four months ago after recovering from a mystery back ailment which ruled him out for almost two years. The 27-year-old from Canberra, a former world No4, tonight brushed aside Welsh champion Alex Gough, the world No25, to secure his 36th successive win on the PSA Tour since winning the South Island Championship - the first of seven successive titles - in New Zealand in April.

Boswell now takes on his training partner Davide Bianchetti, the world No35 from Italy, who beat England's Stacey Ross, from Surrey, 11-6 11-3 11-3.

Tuesday's qualifying finals line-up features Mansoor Zaman (PAK) v Phillip Barker (ENG), and Alex Stait (ENG) v Alister Walker (ENG) at Abbeydale Park Squash Club from 6.30pm; and Peter Barker (ENG) v Rodney Durbach (RSA), and Stewart Boswell (AUS) v Davide Bianchetti (ITA) at Hallamshire Squash Club from 7.00pm.

1st qualifying round:
Mansoor Zaman (PAK) bt Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8 (57m)
Phillip Barker (ENG) bt Scott Handley (ENG) 11-10 (4-2), 11-2, 11-4 (32m)
Alex Stait (ENG) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8 (73m)
Alister Walker (ENG) bt Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-4 (51m)
Rodney Durbach (RSA) bt Laurence Delasaux (ENG) 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 (39m)
Peter Barker (ENG) bt Yasir Butt (PAK) 11-9, 11-3, 11-5 (39m)
Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt Stacey Ross (ENG) 11-6, 11-3, 11-3 (27m)
Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt Alex Gough (WAL) 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (31m)