WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: Tennyson West Fog City Squash Open, San Francisco, USA

1st round:
[1] Rodney Durbach (RSA) bt [Q] Sam Miller (ENG) 11-10 (2-0), 11-10 (3-1), 11-6 (52m)
Eric Galvez (MEX) bt [6] Lee Drew (ENG) 8-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-3 (80m)
[3] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Chris Walker (ENG) 11-6, 11-7, 5-11, 11-4 (58m)
[5] Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) bt Raj Nanda (AUS) 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-3
[8] Liam Kenny (IRL) bt [Q] Christopher Gordon (USA) 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 (29m)
Ian Power (CAN) bt [4] Alister Walker (ENG) 9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 (64m)
[7] Matthew Giuffre (CAN) bt [Q] Wade Johnstone (AUS) 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 (31m)
[2] Shahier Razik (CAN) bt [Q] Jose Angel Becerril (MEX) 11-8, 10-11 (0-2), 11-9, 11-10 (2-0)

Walkers Wilt In San Francisco

Two English Walkers failed to survive the first round of the Tennyson West Fog City Squash Open in San Francisco in contrasting circumstances.

Alister Walker, the 22-year-old fourth seed from Gloucestershire, was unable to capitalise on a first game lead and went down to unseeded Canadian Ian Power 9-11 11-4 11-9 11-8 in 64 minutes in the biggest upset of the day.

Competing in his first PSA Tour event for almost a year, the unrelated Chris Walker found the going tough against Australia's third seed Cameron Pilley.  The 37-year-old former England captain and world No4, who announced his retirement in May, was making an appearance in the event to help out an old friend and former Essex county team-mate Mark Allen, now the Head Squash Professional at the San Francisco Bay Club.

Pilley, a 21-year-old graduate of the Australian Institute of Sport, won 11-6 11-7 5-11 11-4 in 58 minutes.  "Chris hasn't played on the Tour for a while so I tried to keep the ball tight and keep him moving to tire him out," said the world No40 from Queensland.  "I lost the third game after slowing it down too much, but then increased the pace in the fourth which won me the match."

Unseeded Eric Galvez also staged an upset when he defeated England's sixth seed Lee Drew 8-11 5-11 11-6 11-9 11-3 in 80 minutes.  The Mexican's reward is a quarter-final clash with top-seeded South African Rodney Durbach.