First it was Julian Illingworth shocking the men’s professional tour a few years ago when he reached the second round of the Tournament of Champions, becoming the first American player to get past the first round of a major PSA event. Now comes Gilly Lane, a US qualifier beating top-seeded Englishman Peter Barker in the opening round of the National Bank Financial Group International in Montreal, Canada, to claim an unexpected place in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 PSA World Tour event at Midtown Le Sporting Club Santuaire.
It was only 24 hours earlier that the US No. 2 from Philadelphia battled back from two games down to beat another Englishman, Robbie Temple, in an 88-minute marathon to earn his place in the main draw.
But Lane, the 24-year-old World No. 59, recovered from a game down to beat Barker—the World No. 7 from London who won his first PSA Tour title in Canada—7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-6 in 63 minutes.
“It was just a very hard fought win,” said Lane later. “The court is very bouncy and I was just trying to stick in and play solid squash. Peter’s game is something that I try to aspire to so I think I had that in the back of my mind to keep pushing as much as I did.
“I have been working really hard lately and I’m really pleased with this win. It is definitely the best win of my squash career.”
While Lane lost in the quarters to Canada’s Shahier Razik, it is another milestone for American-born men on the world tour.
