Knocked Out

John Rooney
John Rooney

They came, they saw, they conquered!” “They’re headed to the Big Dance!” Insert your favorite inspirational quote for the Salzburg Squash Open in Austria. The Satellite PSA event held in early March marked the first time in PSA Tour history that all four qualifiers reached the semifinals. The highest ranked of the group was Wales’ Ricky Davies at World No. 172, followed by Ireland’s World No. 177 John Rooney, England’s junior star Joe Lee, ranked No. 194, and Denmark’s Morten W. Sorensen at World No. 213.

To get there the four combined to beat the top six seeds. In the end, Rooney and Davies were the two finalists. Rooney won all of his matches 3-0 and the final was no exception. Davies had spent more than an hour longer on court than Rooney, which contributed to a somewhat sluggish performance in the final, something that Rooney capitalized on as he defeated Davies in 26 minutes. Rooney’s performance should not come as a huge surprise as he peaked at World No. 52 in mid 2004 before suffering an injury, and did not return to the Tour until late 2006. Rooney followed up his win in Austria with a win at home in Ireland one month later at the Garavan’s West of Ireland Squash Open.