Nightingale Injury Sends Peach into Gibraltar Open Main Draw

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England’s James Peach has qualified for only his fourth ever PSA World Tour main draw after an injury to his final qualifying round opponent, compatriot Phil Nightingale, enabled him to advance in the Gibraltar Squash Association Gibraltar Open, PSA M5 tournament.

The 19-year-old was a game up and went 5-1 ahead in the second, before injury struck for his older opponent, allowing Peach to emerge unscathed as he bids to make an impact in the main draw.

Peach will go head-to-head with Belgium’s Jan van den Herrewegen in a difficult first round fixture, with van den Herrewegen being the pre-tournament title favourite as he looks to capture a second PSA World Tour crown.

The other two Englishman in the final qualifying round, Bradley Masters and Matthew Broadberry, were unable to join their compatriot in the main draw after they fell to Vincent Droesbeke and Claudio Pinto, respectively.

Droesbeke, 24, will take on Welshman Emyr Evans for a place in the quarter-final, while Pinto will pit his wits against United States player Sam Gould.

David Haley was the other victor in the final round of qualifying, beating Owain Taylor, and his reward is a main draw matchup with South African number seven seed Tristan Eysele.

Results – Final Qualifying Round: Gibraltar Squash Association Gibraltar Open 2016
[1] Claudio Pinto (POR) bt [8] Matthew Broadberry (ENG) 3-1: 11-5, 11-3, 9-11, 11-0 (35m)
[7] Vincent Droesbeke (FRA) bt [4] Bradley Masters (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 (33m)
[6] James Peach (ENG) bt [3] Phil Nightingale (ENG) 3-0: 12-10, 5-1 ret. (18m)
[2] David Haley (WAL) bt [5] Owain Taylor (WAL) 3-1: 11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 12-10 (63m)

Main Draw – First Round
[1] Jan van den Herrewegen (BEL) v [Q] James Peach (ENG)
[Q] Claudio Pinto (POR) v [5] Sam Gould (USA)
[6] Ben Coates (ENG) v Dani Pascual (ESP)
Charlie Lee (ENG) v [4] Rui Soares (POR)
[3] Jan Koukal (CZE) v [WC] Adam Auckland (ENG)
[Q] David Haley (WAL) v [7] Tristan Eysele (RSA)
[8] Emyr Evans (WAL) v [Q] Vincent Droesbeke (FRA)
Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) v [2] Mark Fuller (ENG)