Article courtesy of the Professional Squash Association.
Switzerland’s Reiko Peter made the perfect start to his New Year campaign on the PSA World Tour when he upset fifth seed Lewis Walters in the opening round of the Emerson Racquet Club Pro Series, the first event of the 2014 U.S. Pro Squash Series at The Racquet Club in St Louis, Missouri.
The unseeded twenty-four-year-old from Lucerne recovered from a game down to beat U.S.-based Englishman Walters (both pictured above) 9-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-8 in fifty-eight minutes to secure his unexpected place in the quarterfinals of the PSA Challenger 10 event.
Peter will now take on Arturo Salazar, the No. 3 seed from Mexico. The world No. 78 from San Luis Potosi was taken the full distance by Taiwan’s James Huang, ranked almost fifty places lower, before prevailing 11-5, 3-11, 2-11, 11-9, 11-1.
There was a further upset in the top half of the draw where Spaniard Alejandro Garbi Caro defeated Geoffrey Demont, the No. 8 seed from France, 11-4, 11-5, 11-8.
Caro progresses to face fourth seed Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi—but the Qatari teenager needed forty-one minutes to see off experienced Michael Puertas, the forty-five-year-old event promoter, 11-4, 11-7, 12-14, 11-5.
Quarterfinal line up:
[2] Raphael Kandra (GER) v [7] Syed Hamzah Shah Bukhari (PAK)
[4] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) v Alejandro Garbi Caro (ESP)
[3] Arturo Salazar (MEX) v Reiko Peter (SUI)
[1] Nasir Iqbal (PAK) v [6] Sebastiaan Weenink (NED)
First round:
[2] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt Fred Reid (CAN) 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 (28m)
[7] Syed Hamzah Shah Bukhari (PAK) bt Baba Tunde Ajagbe (NGR) 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 (51m)
Alejandro Garbi Caro (ESP) bt [8] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) 11-4, 11-5, 11-8 (32m)
[4] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) bt Michael Puertas (USA) 11-4, 11-7, 12-14, 11-5 (41m)
[3] Arturo Salazar (MEX) bt James Huang (TPE) 11-5, 3-11, 2-11, 11-9, 11-1 (46m)
Reiko Peter (SUI) bt [5] Lewis Walters (ENG) 9-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-8 (58m)
[6] Sebastiaan Weenink (NED) bt Matthew Serediak (CAN) 11-1, 11-4, 11-3 (30m)
[1] Nasir Iqbal (PAK) bt Karamatullah Khan (PAK) 11-7, 11-3, 11-1 (24m)