Brits Dominate Men's Qualifiers In Nottingham

Women seeds fell in British Open qualifying action today at Nottingham while Malaysia's Nicol David charged through to the final qualifying round.

Nottingham stalwarts Simon Parke and Alex Gough led a strong British contingent through today's (Monday) men's second qualifying round of the 2003 British Open Squash Championships at Nottingham Squash Club.

Parke, the world No18 from Yorkshire who has been based in Nottingham for more than ten years, beat his Nottingham club-mate John Rooney, the Irish No3, 15-11 15-10 15-2 in 46 minutes and now takes on compatriot and fellow Yorkshireman James Willstrop in tomorrow's qualifying finals. Willstrop, the 6' 4" tall world junior champion from Pontefract, dismissed another Nottingham-based player, Frenchman Renan Lavigne, 15-10 15-11 15-13 in 67 minutes.

Welsh No1 Alex Gough, who only recently moved to Berkshire after spending more than eight years crafting his squash career on the Nottingham courts, took 91 minutes to overcome Dutch No1 Tommy Berden 15-8 13-15 15-9 15-9, and will now face England 'veteran' Del Harris. The Colchester-based 34-year-old unexpectedly reached the qualifying finals when his in-form Yorkshire opponent Nick Matthew, ranked 24 in the world, conceded their match after the first game, suffering from back spasms.

Should Harris beat Gough, the former world number five would go on to make his 17th successive appearance in the first round of a British Open since 1987.

Scottish interest was wiped out on the first day of qualifying in the women's event when Edinburgh's Pamela Nimmo and Aberdeen's Wendy Maitland - both also based in Nottingham - crashed out. Nimmo, ranked 17 in the world, twice fought back to level the match against England's Laura-Jane Lengthorn, but after 71 minutes the former National junior champion from Chorley in Lancashire was celebrating an impressive 9-6 1-9 9-5 8-10 9-5 upset over the Scot ranked 21 places higher.

Just two ranking positions separated Maitland and her Malaysian opponent Nicol David, but the higher-placed David, a two-times world junior champion, romped to a 9-2 9-6 9-0 victory in just 23 minutes.

After the qualifying finals on Tuesday, the 2003 British Open Squash Championships get underway on the state-of-the-art all-glass court at the Albert Hall in Nottingham from 01-05 October.