January 27, 2003	Monday	Ziqa’ad 23,1423

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DAYTON (Ohio), Jan 26: For the second time in successive PSA Tour events, England’s Lee Beachill crashed out of the semifinals of the US$30,000 EBS Dayton Squash Open with an ankle injury here on Saturday.

In a similar mid-court clash to one which caused his withdrawal from last month’s World Open in Belgium with an ankle injury, third seed Beachill collided with top-seeded Frenchman Thierry Lincou when leading in the third game in the 60th minute of a titanic battle.

The world No 9 from Yorkshire was forced to concede the match 17-15, 15-6, 4-6 to favourite Lincou.

Lincou, the world No 6 from Paris, will face second seed Anthony Ricketts in the final after the world No 7 from Australia survived a marathon five-game battle against Welshman Alex Gough in the other semifinal.

The balance of power between the two swung backwards and forwards, Ricketts taking the opener, fifth seed Gough the second, then the Australian fighting back to take the third, only for the Welshman to level matters in the fourth.

Gough recovered from 11-1 down in the decider, but Ricketts ultimately claimed victory in 95 minutes with the score at 15-10, 13-15, 15-8, 10-15, 15-10.

The victory marks Ricketts’ seventh appearance in a PSA Tour final — but his first since facing Lincou in the final of the Pittsburgh Open exactly a year ago, when the Frenchman went on to claim his ninth PSA title.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Semifinals: 1-Thierry Lincou (France) beat 3-Lee Beachill (England) 17-15, 15-6, 4-6 — retired; 2-Anthony Ricketts (Australia) beat 5-Alex Gough (Wales) 15-10, 13-15, 15-8, 10-15, 15-10.

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