Squash: Final delight for Marshall

PETER MARSHALL became the first British male ever to reach a World Open final when he beat Peter Nicol in four long games - 15-7 13-15 15-5 15-3 - lasting an hour and a half, in Barcelona here yesterday.

The Englishman thus repeated the victory he had against the Scotsman in a 100-minute British national final in January, though it was something of a surprise that this time Nicol seemed to run out of steam halfway through the third game.

The 21-year-old from Inverurie had been ill earlier in the week, though Marshall must certainly take much credit for doing more with the ball than he sometimes does, moving Nicol around enterprisingly and working him over with a mixture of the short and long games. It was a scrappy, tense contest, though Marshall will be happy to achieve something which not even Jonah Barrington, six times the British Open champion, managed. Whether the double- hander from Leicestershire can now emulate Martine Le Moignan, the Briton who won the women's World Open in 1989, is another matter, for his next opponent is Jansher Khan, the top-seeded title-holder from Pakistan.

Jansher, who is attempting to equal the record of six World Open titles held by his compatriot Jahangir Khan, was in outstanding form as he came from 10-11 down in the second game and 12-13 down in the third to win 15-7 15-12 15-13 against Rodney Eyles, the world No 4 from Australia.