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Power, Palmer Advance to Canadian Classic Finals
November 18, 2003, From Toronto; © 2003 Squashtalk, all rights of reproduction reserved.

[PACE Canadian Classic Press Release.]

The crowd got their money’s worth at tonight’s semi-final action in the US $40,000 Pace Credit Union Canadian Squash Classic at BCE Place in Toronto.

In the first match of the evening, British Open champion and third-seed David Palmer defeated #21 Omar Elborolossy of Egypt in three straight. This brought to an end the string of surprise victories by Elborolossy, who upset top-seed Peter Nicol in the opening round. Getting to the semi-finals tonight was the best-ever achievement for Elborolossy on the tour.

In an evenly matched first game, Palmer and Elborolossy had plenty of long rallies but it all boiled down to who made the least amount of mistakes. Palmer had the upper hand throughout most of the match while Elborolossy couldn’t put together the string of points when he needed it most. In the second and third games, Elborolossy started strong with early leads, but quickly squandered them.

“Obviously I was very happy to win 3-love and get through to the finals,” said Palmer. “I really tried to stick to my game plan tonight to move him around. He’s a big guy. My idea tonight was to get in there and twist and turn him and make him stretch at the front as much as possible. Physically I feel pretty good. I’ve got a problem with my ribs so I’m having a little trouble breathing. I’m happy to get to the final. When I step on court tomorrow I’ll be there to play. The crowd is a big factor with Jonathon. I won’t be changing my game plan. It should be a really good match. I haven’t played him for the past 3 years. We played twice in the PSA, he won one and I won one. I’m looking forward to playing him. It will be a good experience.”

Elborolossy was happy with tonight’s performance. “I thought I had a chance today, but it’s okay. It was a very good week for me and a good comeback. All the games were really close until the very end. I was playing okay, but I missed three or four points, the last few points, in every game that made the difference. And he was more consistent. He didn’t do lots of mistakes and that’s why he got it.”

Power and White played a match of titans. Both moved the ball all over the court trying to tire the other out. In the first game, Power came back after trailing by five points at 7-2 to take the game 15-9. The start of the second game mirrored the first up to 7-2, but Power was never able to close the gap and began showing great frustration with his play. The calmer White took that game 15-7. In the third, Power maintained the upper hand throughout the game, never giving up the lead to finish it 15-11 as White appeared to begin to tire. In game four, Power had the advantage up to nine, when the tables turned in White’s favour up to 13-10. Power had to dig deep and completely exhaust ed White to come back and finished the match 15-13.

“I’m happy with that win. It was a good win for me,” said Power. “I haven’t beaten John in a PSA bout before so it was good. I played a little bit smarter against him. He reacts pretty well to my natural game, so I had to play a little more tactical, and it seemed to work. It was close though. I wasn’t too far from losing that one either, so it’s good. I just tried to move well, pick up a lot of balls and get him tired and force the play. I think he suffered a little bit physically in patches and made some mistakes. I play well in Toronto, probably because I grew up playing here. It takes a lot out of you physically, but I was psyched up and the adrenaline was pumping.”

About facing Palmer in the final tomorrow, Power said: “Over my career we have matched up pretty well. We’ve had some ugly pig fights and some strong matches, too.”

After tonight’s bout, John White said: “I’m a little disappointed having been up 7-2 in the first and losing 15-9. And I was up 13-10 in the fourth. It’s just one of those things. It’s always exciting when you play Johnny Power and it was as much as what I expected from him and from us both.”
[Martin Bronstein's Report]         [ full draw/results]