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Shabana, Barker advance to semis

SAN FRANCISCO — No. 2 seed Amr Shabana (Egypt) and No. 3 seed Peter Barker (England) were victorious tonight to ensure that the NetSuite Open Semifinals will have all of the top four seeds. Top seed Gregory Gaultier (France) and No. 4 seed Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Colombia) earned their trips to Monday’s semis of the PSA World Tour International 70 Tournament in San Francisco with quarterfinal victories on Saturday night.

Shabana, who is currently ranked 5th in the world, needed four games to dispatch the 8th seed Adrian Grant (England) 11-6, 11-3, 6-11, 11-9 in 54 minutes. The “Maestro” will make his second appearance in the NetSuite Open Semifinals, having made it in his previous appearance in San Francisco in 2012.

Barker, the No. 8 player in the world, moved through to the semis after taking all 3 games from Alister Walker (Botswana) 11-5, 11-5, 11-9 in 46 minutes. The London native is returning to the semifinals at the NetSuite Open for the first time since 2012, after being knocked out in the quarterfinals last year.

The semifinal matches will be played tomorrow night at the Glass Court on the South Lawn at Justin Herman Plaza, culminating in Tuesday’s championship.

Gaultier, who is appearing in his third straight NetSuite Open Semifinals, owns a 4-0 lifetime record against Rodriguez, who is currently 13th in the world.

Shabana is 5-1 against Barker, with their last matchup coming at the 2010 Kuwait Open quarterfinal.

Below is a listing of Sunday’s Quarterfinal results:

No. 3 Peter Barker (England) def. Alister Walker (Botswana) 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-9) 46 min.

• No. 2 Amr Shabana (Egypt) vs. No. 8 Adrian Grant (England) 3-1 (11-6, 11-3, 6-11, 11-9) 54 min.

Monday, September 29 Semifinal Schedule

• 7:00 p.m.: No. 2 Amr Shabana (Egypt) vs. No. 3 Peter Barker (England)
• 8:00 p.m.: No. 1 Gregory Gaultier (France) vs. No. 4 Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Colombia)

About Event Engine

Event Engine, Inc. is a visionary event and entertainment marketing company specializing in the creation of unique athletic, musical, corporate and philanthropic events in extraordinary venues. Founded in 2000 by US Squash Hall of Fame member John Nimick, Event Engine has grown from the management of a single, but unique, annual professional squash championship in Grand Central Terminal to a portfolio of successful events in some of the best known locations in North America and with some of the best-known entertainment celebrities in the world. The Event Engine mission is to provide an unparalleled, highly valuable, highest quality result for clients, customer and corporate partners. Event Engine is part of the Welldone Group, a global sports and entertainment agency based in Frankfurt, Germany.

About the NetSuite Open

The NetSuite Open Squash Championships return to San Francisco’s South Lawn of Justin Herman Plaza on an all-glass portable squash court for the third year September 24-30, 2014. Sanctioned by the Professional Squash Association, the PSA International 70 NetSuite Open is one of the top 15 professional tournaments in the world as determined by prize money.

Some 450 reserved seats are available for the NetSuite Open, ranging in price from $30 to $250. For tickets, draws, schedule and more information, please visit NetSuiteOpenSquash.com. Follow the NetSuite Open on Facebook and Twitter.

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

Posted on September 28, 2014
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