Titanic Tussles Lined Up As Top Eight Seeds Reach Windy City Quarters

Packed crowds at the University Club in Chicago will be treated to top-quality quarter-finals of the SSA Global Windy City Open featuring the top eight seeds, three of which matches will be replays of major recent finals on the PSA Tour.

Competing in the richest PSA Tour event in North America, Canada's world No1 Jonathon Power and Australia's world No3 Anthony Ricketts will re-enact the final of last month's Saudi International, the second richest PSA event of last year. Power, the fifth seed, overcame ninth seed Gregory Gaultier 11-9 11-5 11-2 after the Frenchman appeared to give up the second round fight after the second game.

Ricketts, the third seed from Sydney who arrived in Chicago fresh from his Men's Doubles triumph in the WSF World Doubles Championships in his home country earlier in the month, despatched Power's Canadian team-mate Graham Ryding , the 11th seed, 8-11 11-6 11-1 11-7.

In what was described as the "best match of the day by far" by SquashTalk.com publisher Ron Beck, Scotland's John White, the seventh seed, beat Egypt's unseeded Mohammed Abbas 11-6 9-11 11-10 7-11 11-3 in a 64-minute clash in which the 25-year-old from Cairo ran out of steam in the fifth game.

Title-holder White will meet Australian David Palmer in the quarter-final, which is a repeat of the 2002 World Open climax in which Palmer clinched the title after an epic 102-minute battle. Palmer beat Alex Gough, the 15th seed from Wales, 11-4 11-10 11-5.

Top-seeded Frenchman Thierry Lincou fought back from a game down to defeat Malaysia's 13th seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar 10-11 11-7 11-6 11-9 to set up a replay of the 2003 World Open final against Egypt's sixth seed Amr Shabana, now the world No2. Shabana dismissed fellow left-hander Adrian Grant, from England, 11-6 11-4 11-6.

Two Englishmen, both from Yorkshire, will contest the other quarter-final after coming through their second round matches in straight games: James Willstrop, the No2 seed, defeated Egypt's 10th seed Karim Darwish 11-7 11-5 11-7, while eighth seed Matthew saw off Finland's No12 seed Olli Tuominen 11-5 11-8 11-7.

2nd round:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [13] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 10-11 (3-5), 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (59m)
[6] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Adrian Grant (ENG) 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 (39m)
[3] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [11] Graham Ryding (CAN) 8-11, 11-6, 11-1, 11-7 (45m)
[5] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [9] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 11-9, 11-5, 11-2 (44m)
[7] John White (SCO) bt Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 11-6, 9-11, 11-10 (6-4), 7-11, 11-3 (64m)
[4] David Palmer (AUS) bt [15] Alex Gough (WAL) 11-4, 11-10 (2-0), 11-5 (37m)
[8] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [12] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 (41m)
[2] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [10] Karim Darwish (EGY) 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 (44m)