England's Peter Barker claimed his 16th career title on the PSA World
Tour by defeating Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez in the final of the
Fiera Properties Bluenose Squash Classic, PSA International 50
tournament in Halifax, Canada.
Barker, who's last tournament win came in September 2013 when he won the
2013 CIMB Malaysian Open, powered to the title with an 11-6, 11-7, 11-8
victory over Rodriguez, the World No.13, who he consigned to a second
consecutive runner-up finish after the man from Bogota also lost the
final of last week's Montreal Open.
Barker continued the show the impressive physical dominance and clinical
approach that saw him reach the final for the loss of only one game,
against Cameron Pilley in the quarter-finals, and in a battle off
attrition it was the man from Essex who prevailed over the dynamic South
American.
"Towards the end of the match I was hanging on a bit," said Barker. "But
I was happy to see the match through.
"Miguel's game has come on a lot since he started working with David
Palmer, he's disciplined and he has bags of speed and he made it a tough
encounter."
Photo courtesy of Jon Boody
Barker
Wins Battle Of Brits At Bluenose
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31-year-old Peter Barker booked his place in the final of the Fiera
Properties Bluenose Squash Classic, PSA International 50 tournament in
Halifax, Canada, courtesy of a 3-0 win over fellow Essex-man Daryl
Selby,
Barker put his lifelong friend to the sword in their last four
encounter, taking 40-minutes to complete a comprehensive 11-4, 11-4,
11-6 victory in which he asserted his physical dominance and controlled
the match from the out-set.
Selby had triumphed on their past four meetings but Barker made amends
for those defeats to move into the final where he will now take on
Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez.
"He has beaten me the last four times we played, so I was due one
today," said Barker.
“I just had to play quite disciplined and slow it down because Daryl has
such great hands. If you give him anything at the front, he can hold you
and do whatever he wants so I always like to play typical English boring
squash to the back and just to try to keep him behind me.
"I'm happy to be in the final and I'm looking forward to playing Miguel.
He's improved a lot recently and it will be a tough match."
Rodriguez booked his place in the final courtesy of a 3-0 victory over
World No.7 Borja Golan, his second semi-final victory over the Spaniard
inside a week.
Rodriguez knocked Golan out of the Open de squash Financière Banque
Nationale in Montreal, when he won 3-2, and he upset the odds again to
move into his second consecutive final after seeing out an edgy contest
which went to the wire in two games, taking the win 11-4, 12-10, 13-11.
The Colombian's pace troubled Golan from the outset and he'll be hoping
to go one better than his runner-up finish in Montreal when he faces off
against Barker in the finale where he'll be aiming to record his first
ever victory over the Commonwealth Games Bronze Medalist.
Selby And Barker Set Up All-English
Showdown At Bluenose
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click on images for larger view
English
pair Peter Barker and Daryl Selby (Right), the
World No.8 and No.9 respectively, will go
head-to-head in the semi-finals of the Fiera Properties Bluenose Squash
Classic, PSA International 50 tournament in Halifax, Canada after coming
through their quarter-finals encounters.
The duo, who have been life-long friends since they met at Brentwood
School in Essex, will meet for ninth time on tour, with honours
presently even at four-all but Selby, who has won their past four
meetings, will be hoping to get one over his younger compatriot and book
his place in the final.
The 31-year-old number three seed crashed out of last week's Open de
squash Financière Banque Nationale in Montreal at the quarter-final
stage and was forced to produce some of his best play to avoid a repeat
scenario, taking 102-minutes to get past Botswanan Alister Walker.
Barker
(left) meanwhile secured his semi-final passage after a 3-1 victory over
Australian No.1 Cameron Pilley.
In the second semi-final, number one seed Borja Golan will take on
Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez with a place in a final at stake for
the second time in a week.
The Spanish No.1 will be hoping to avenge his defeat in the semi-final
stage of the Open de squash Financière Banque Nationale, when Rodriguez
won a marathon 3-2 encounter.
Golan moved into the last four following a 3-1 win over Tom Richards
while Rodriguez ended the challenge of South African Stephen Coppinger
with a 3-2 victory.
Richards
Rallies Past Waller In Bluenose Opener
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England's Tom Richards upset the form-book on day one of main draw
action at the 2014 Fiera Properties Bluenose Squash Classic, PSA
International 50 tournament taking place in Halifax, Canada to defeat
compatriot Adrian Waller 3-0 in their first round encounter.
Richards, the current World No.33 who has fallen from inside the top 20
over the past 10-months following a run of injuries, looked to be
closing in on the form that took him to a career high World No.12 in
2012 as he got past Waller, a quarterfinalist at the recent Delaware
Investments US Open World Series event.
Following a closely fought opening exchange, it was 28-year-old Richards
who took the upper hand in the first game to hit three consecutive
winners and take it 11-9 and he continued his aggressive play and proved
too much for his 24-year-old opponent, taking the match 11-9, 11-8, 11-9
in just under 50-minutes.
Richards will now take on tournament top seed and World No.7 Borja Golan
in the quarter-finals, after the Spanish ace came through a comfortable
first-round encounter with Egyptian Mohamed Abouelghar.
Elsewhere on the opening day of action there were wins for all the
remaining seeds, with only South African Stephen Coppinger dropping a
game in his opening encounter against Ryan Cuskelly.
