Catella Swedish Open 2nd Qualifying Round JM The 4 matches that decided who went through to the main draw of this years Catella Swedish Open presented the members at the Linkoping Squash Club with some scintillating squash. First on court were South African number 1, Rodney Durbach, against Joey Barrington from England, son of one of the sports greatest legends, Jonah Barrington. Joey started the steadier player, matching Durbach shot for shot until the final part of the first game when the South African opened up a decisive lead to take the first game. The second game was more conclusive with the big South African getting into his stride. Durbach then closed out the match to take it in straight games and earn a place in the main draw. Christian Drakenberg felt he had a real chance to take the Frenchman, Jean Michel Arcucci. He created a lot of problems for Arcucci in both of the first two games but unforced errors in the middle of each game proved costly for Drakenberg. A 2 game deficit was too much although he stormed through an impressive 3rd game, opening up an early lead and taking it comfortably. However, Arcucci stepped up the pace in the 4th game and Drakenberg was slow to respond and found himself too far behind to come back again. Andrew Whipp (England) pushed the more experienced Finn, Mika Monto, to 5 games but was disappointing in the final game, losing it without really troubling Monto. In the final match of the evening, two young Englishmen in the first year on the professional circuit World Junior Champion, James Willstrop, and the player he beat to win that title in December last year, Peter Barker, showed everyone watching that they are two players to look out for in the future. Barker has drawn Willstrop a number of times in qualifying rounds of tournaments around the world this season with Willstrop getting the better of his England under 19 team mate each time. So it proved again today with Peter going down 3-1, but not without a fight. These two players will surely do battle many times in the not to far distant future in later rounds of major championships rather than qualifying rounds. Full results: Rodney Durbach (South Africa) beat Joey Barrington (England) 15/12 15/10 15/11 Jean Michel Arcucci (France) beat Christian Drakenberg (Sweden) 15/11 15/12 8/15 15/7 Mika Monto (Finland) beat Andrew Whipp (England) 15/13 15/5 11/15 11/15 15/3 James Willstrop (England) beat Peter Barker (England) 15/13 13/15 15/12 15/7 Go Back