Power Cut In St Louis
Unable to convert a two games lead into a straight games win, Jonathon Power was forced to concede to Australian opponent Anthony Ricketts after 73 minutes in the semi-finals of the MPM St Louis Open Squash Championship at the Garden Court in the St Louis Galleria in Missouri, USA.
The fourth-seeded Canadian – the highest-seeded player left in the five-star PSA Tour event – had been nursing a hamstring injury before arriving in St Louis. But the 31-year-old from Montreal was in sparkling form in his earlier quarter-final against fifth seed Peter Nicol, beating his great rival in straight games.
Power's signs of discomfort, however, came midway through the third game – but, at 6-9 down, the Canadian staged a mighty recovery to level the game, leaving himself just two points away from victory.
But Ricketts, 26, from Sydney, was able to clinch the third and sped to a 7-1 lead in the fourth before a dejected Power threw in the towel with the score at 8-11 7-11 11-9 7-1.
"I was feeling good, but as soon he put the ball in the left front corner, I couldn’t stretch, so I had to play crosscourts all the time," Power told www.squashsite.co.uk "And after running for an hour and only putting weight on my right leg, you just get awfully tired."
Now celebrating his tenth appearance in a PSA Tour final, Ricketts will face Egypt's former world champion Amr Shabana, the seventh seed who ended the courageous run of England's James Willstrop.
Less than 24 hours after pulling off the best upset of his career – beating top seed Thierry Lincou, the world No1 from France in an 85-minute marathon – Willstrop, the eighth seed was unable to produce the same magic against the gifted left-hander from Cairo.
Shabana, fresh from victory in the Heliopolis Open in his hometown earlier in the month, reached his fourth PSA final of the year with an 11-7 11-7 7-11 11-7 victory over the Englishman in 56 minutes.
"James is an Englishman who hides his shot like an Egyptian, you never know where the ball is going," said Shabana, sporting a new blond hairstyle, afterwards. "He is a big boy, but he is so fair, he doesn’t use his body to put physical pressure on you. As far as I’m concerned, he is the most talented English player, he plays squash the way it should be played," added the 26-year-old.
RESULTS: MPM St Louis Open Squash Championship, St Louis, Missouri, USA
Semi-finals:
[7] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [8] James Willstrop (ENG) 11-7, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7 (56m)
[6] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [4] Jonathon Power (CAN) 8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 7-1 ret. (73m)