Squash: Horner and Lord march on

SUZANNE HORNER and Paul Lord, a qualifier, were the main English successes in the US Open at the century-old Racquets Club here yesterday, writes Richard Eaton from Philadelphia. Horner, the England No 1, needed less than 20 minutes to join the English national champion, Cassie Jackman, in the second round, dropping only four points against Amy Milanek, of the United States.

By contrast Lord, ranked only 16 in England, had to test his patience for two hours to come through. He trailed by two games to one and 9-10 in the fourth against his seventh- seeded compatriot, Stephen Meads, but in the final game, Meads' strength faded dramatically and Lord stormed through 15-4.

The closest contest saw the top-seeded Rodney Eyles trail 6-9 in the final game against Canada's Jamie Crombie and become embroiled in a dispute over the plastic eye-guards which had been made obligatory in a world circuit tournament for the first time here. The tournament organiser, Tom Jones, was summoned on to court to sort out complaints from Crombie that Eyles had repeatedly and excessively been delaying while wiping sweat from his lenses. However, the Australian overcame all his problems to take the game 15-11.