CATELLA SWEDISH OPEN 2003 – QUARTER FINALS JM 6 countries were represented in the quarter finals of the Catella Swedish Open 2003. Scotland and Australia were the two nations with 2 players. So, Martin Heath, the first Scotsman to take stage and a 3-4 seed here duly disposed of the remaining Englishmen, one of the 5-8 seeds, Simon Parke. The first two games were very close though and followed a similar pattern by Heath managing to take a lead in the early part of each game, only to be pegged back by the tenacious Yorkshireman. At 2-0 down and 8-13 down in the third it seemed that Simon had given up and started to play some exhibition squash. Was this a devious plan to lull the Scotsman into a false security? If it was, it nearly worked as he came within a point of levelling the score. A relieved Heath just managed to close the game out to take it 15-13 and the match a rather flattering 3-0. In the second quarter final, Australian Stewart Boswell, number 2 seed, made light work of 3 games and heavy work of one in his 3-1 win over last year’s semi finalist, Graham Ryding. It was not as if the Canadian made a heap of errors in the three games he lost. He just could not break down Boswell enough to put points on the board. He even enjoyed a 6-2 lead in the fourth game but then Boswell won 12 consecutive points to go match ball up at 14-6. There was one final consolation point for Ryding, but Boswell closed the game and match out in the next rally to claim his place in the semi finals to play Heath. Number 1 seed, John White, the second Scotsman of the day, was involved in an entertaining battle of shots with Amr Shabana, the skilful Egyptian. Holding match ball in the third game at 14-13, White failed to take advantage and then bizarrely, both players managed to confuse each other (and the marker) about what the score was until it was established it was 14 all. Calling set 1, for match ball/game ball, White just clipped the top of the tin with a backhand volley which would surely have beaten Shabana but actually won the Egyptian the game. There was further incident in the 4th game when, at 6-4 to Shabana, neither player could find the ball. It was, in fact, resting in the middle of the “Mastercard” advert in the middle of the court. To the crowd’s increasing amusement, both player’s spent at least a minute walking straight past without seeing it. Finally lay got underway again and Shabana really lost his momentum and the match, going down 15-10. The final match was between giant-killer Rodney Durbach and the 5-8 seed from Australia, Joe Kneipp. However, Durbach couldn’t back up the previous night’s heroics when he dumped out the defending champion Ong Beng Hee. Looking tired he took the ball short too early to trouble Kneipp who ran out a comfortable 3-0 winner. Tomorrow’s semi finals start at 13.30 with Martin Heath taking on the second seed Stewart Boswell, followed at 16.00 by top seed John White looking to dowse the fiery spirit of Joe Kneipp. With world champion Sarah Fitzgerald making a special guest appearance in an exhibition match against Shelley Kitchen of New Zealand, there is plenty of world class squash on show in this year’s Catella Swedish Open. Full results: Martin Heath (Scotland) beat Simon Parke (England) 17/16 17/14 15/13 Stewart Boswell Australia) beat Graham Ryding (Canada) 15/6 16/17 15/6 15/7 John White (Scotland) beat Amr Shabana (Egypt) 15/12 15/10 14/15 15/10 Joe Kneipp (Australia) beat Rodney Durbach (South Africa) 15/11 15/7 15/12 Go Back