David Palmer Digs Deep To Hold Off Bradley Ball, Will Face Wael El Hindi Today For American Open Championship
from DailySquashReport.com
April 29, 2012 - Former world #1 David Palmer will take on former world #8 Wael El Hindi today in an intriguing championship match at the PST American Open in Tuxedo Park, New York.
Palmer came from 2-1 down and 6-all in the fifth last night to beat back the challenge of gritty, one-time world #23 Bradley Ball of England in semi-final play.
El Hindi had a walkover to the final, when semi-final oppoent Mohamed El Sherbini was unable to take the court due to an injury induced during his quarters win over Gustav Detter.
Palmer, now based in Florida, is 35 years old. El Hindi, playing out of New York, is 31.
The American Open title match will be streamed live today at 3:00pm EST.
PST Media filed this report:
David Palmer struggled for 58 minutes to find a way to beat Bradley Ball in the semi-finals of the American Open. He hit to length, he lobbed, he dropped, hit cross courts and drives. At every turn he found Ball in a position to confound the Australian #1.
"Bradley is a tough opponent," said Palmer in post game remarks. "I was struggling to find the right strategy tonight."
"Two things happened this evening," said PST Commissioner Joe McManus. "Bradley Ball realized he could beat Palmer, and David Palmer realized Ball could beat him." It made for a hotly contested five game match that found the two giants knotted at 6-6 in the final stanza.
It was then that Palmer ran off five consecutive rallies to win the match. In his own post game remarks Ball said, "I need to play better than what I did tonight to beat David Palmer. And unfortunately, tonight I had the chance to beat him. It's very frustrating. But, I enjoyed the match and hope to get another shot at him in Detroit."
Palmer will face Wael El Hindi in the finals on Sunday. Hindi advanced to the finals with a walk over after his opponent, Mohamed El Sherbini, defaulted their semi final match due to injury.
Semi-Final Results:
David Palmer beat Bradley Ball: 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-1, 11-6
Mohamed El Sherbini defaulted his semi-final match against Wael El Hindi due to injury.
Exhibition match:Gustav Detter beat Supreet Singh 11-9, 8-11, 11-8
Quarter Finals Results:
Bradley Ball beat Andres Vargas 11-5, 11-4, 11-4
Mohamed El Sherbini beat Gustav Detter 11-9, 11-8, 12-10
Wael El Hind beat Adrian Leanza 11-8, 14-12, 11-4
David Palmer beat Supreet Singh 11-7, 11-7, 11-8
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