Gaultier Gets Garner

March 2, 2002 by Howard Harding © 2002 SquashTalk may not be reproduced without express permission. [Main Draw]

Gaultier Gets Garner For Second Time In Windy City
France's Gregory Gaultier recorded a second successive straight games victory over England's Tim Garner to reach the final of the Charter Consulting Windy City Open Squash Championship in Chicago, USA. However, unlike last week's Dayton Open final in Ohio, this was a hard fought affair. In the second game, Gaultier had to recover from 1-8 down to take it 15-12, and in the third the fourth-seeded Frenchman saved three game balls to come back from 13-14 and 15-16 to upset the second seed by the narrowest of margins to win 15-6 15-12 17-16 after 85 minutes of play.

Gregory will meet another Englishman, top seed Nick Taylor, in the final. In the other semi, Taylor overcame a sluggish start to stop giant killer Mark Heather in his tracks. Unseeded Heather, who had already put out two seeds, led 1-0 and 9-4 - but the favourite rattled off 10 straight points to turn things around and put himself in the driving seat. Although Heather continued to battle hard, Taylor refused to be budged and won 12-15, 15-10, 15-5, 15-8 in 75 minutes.

RESULTS: Charter Consulting Windy City Open Squash Championship, Chicago, USA Semi-finals:
[1] Nick Taylor (ENG) bt Mark Heather (ENG) 12-15, 15-10, 15-5, 15-8
[4] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [2] Tim Garner (ENG) 15-6, 15-12, 17-16

Amateur Draws: Phil Yarrow (above) defeated Ray Lindsay in men's 6.0 amateur play friday.