Palmer & Power In Canadian Classic Final

WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: Pace Credit Union Canadian Squash Classic, BCE Place, Toronto, Canada

Semi-finals:
[3] David Palmer (AUS) bt Omar Elborolossy (EGY) 15-11, 15-9, 15-13 (54m)
[4] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [2] John White (SCO) 15-9, 7-15, 15-11, 15-13 (104m)

Palmer & Power In Canadian Classic Final

Canada's Jonathon Power will meet Australia's David Palmer in the final of the $40,000 Pace Credit Union Canadian Squash Classic at BCE Place in Toronto as the local hero bids to win his third title in four years.

Third seed Palmer, the reigning World Open and British Open champion, ended the courageous run of unseeded Egyptian Omar Elborolossy in a straight games defeat in 54 minutes - while fourth seed Power, currently the most consistent player in the world's top four, needed almost twice as long to despatch Scotland's No2 seed John White in four games.

World No3 Palmer had the upper hand throughout most of the match against Elborolossy, the world No21 whose first round defeat of England's world No1 Peter Nicol was the tournament's biggest shock. In the second and third games, Elborolossy started strongly with early leads, but quickly squandered them to the Australian who went on to win 15-11 15-9 15-13.

"Obviously I was very happy to win three love and get through to the final," said Palmer. "I really tried to stick to my game plan tonight to move him around. He's a big guy. My idea tonight was to get in there and twist and turn him and make him stretch at the front as much as possible. Physically I feel pretty good. I've got a problem with my ribs so I'm having a little trouble breathing.

"I'm happy to get to the final. When I step on court tomorrow I'll be there to play. The crowd is a big factor with Jonathon. I won't be changing my game plan. It should be a really good match."

Elborolossy was happy with his performance. "I thought I had a chance today, but it's okay. It was a very good week for me and a good comeback. All the games were really close until the very end. I was playing okay, but I missed three or four points, the last few points, in every game that made the difference. And he was more consistent. He didn't make lots of mistakes and that's why he got it."

Power and White played a match of titans. Both moved the ball all over the court trying to tire the other out. In the first game, Power came back after trailing by five points at 7-2 to take the game 15-9. The start of the second game mirrored the first up to 7-2, but Power was never able to close the gap and began showing great frustration with his play. The calmer White took that game 15-7. In the third, Power maintained the upper hand throughout the game, never giving up the lead to finish it 15-11 as White appeared to begin to tire. In game four, Power had the advantage up to nine, when the tables turned in White's favour up to 13-10. Power had to dig deep and completely exhausted White to come back and finished the match 15-9 7-15 15-11 15-13 in 104 minutes.

"I'm happy with that win. It was a good win for me," said Power. "I haven't beaten John in a PSA ranking event for over two years, so it was good. I played a little bit smarter against him. He reacts pretty well to my natural game, so I had to play a little more tactical, and it seemed to work. It was close though. I wasn't too far from losing that one either, so it's good. I just tried to move well, pick up a lot of balls and get him tired and force the play. I think he suffered a little bit physically in patches and made some mistakes. I play well in Toronto, probably because I grew up playing here. It takes a lot out of you physically, but I was psyched up and the adrenaline was pumping."

John White responded: "I'm a little disappointed having been up 7-2 in the first and losing 15-9. And I was up 13-10 in the fourth. It's just one of those things. It's always exciting when you play Johnny Power and it was as much as what I expected from him and from us both."

About facing Palmer in the final, Power said: "Over my career we have matched up pretty well. We've had some ugly pig fights and some strong matches too."