Squash: Horner's Open ambition

SUZANNE HORNER goes into today's Rolex US Open seeking her second Open title in two months and knowing that victory over Cassie Jackman, the English national champion whom she is seeded to meet in Sunday's final, will confirm her as the undisputed England No 1, writes Richard Eaton from Philadelphia.

Jackman is the official favourite but Horner, who won the Singapore Open last month, has been in better form and looks likely to continue her revival from the knee operation last season after which she was warned that she might never play to the same standard again. This season, at the age of 30, she became England No 1 for the first time. 'It was wanting to be No 1 that helped keep me going,' she said.

Jackman has reached a mini- crisis: labelled a future world champion, the 20-year-old suffered the most disappointing defeat of her career last month, to Sabine Schoene in the World Open quarter-finals.