By Alan Thatcher
Contributing Editor
David Palmer of Australia is the top seed in the inaugural Sweet Home Chicago Open. He is drawn to meet Peter Barker of England in the final on Michigan Avenue on September 15, but you can expect many mishaps and memorable matches beteen the launch of the qualifying competition and the final itself. For the full draw click HERE.
Such is the depth of quality in the PSA rankings these days that there is no such thing as a foregone conclusion in any tournament.
The Boston-based Palmer faces an intriguing calsh in the opening round against wild card Alain Osman Muldeen of the Cayman Islands, who will surely treasure the experience of meeting such a respected figure on the glass court.
Number seven seed Daryl Selby of England, who faces a qualifier in the first round, is seeded to meet Palmer in the quarter-finals.
The next quarter of the draw throws up some fascinating confrontations, with number four seed John White scheduled to face Palmer in the semis. The globetrotting White, who was born in Australia, then moved to England before switching his international allegiance to Australia, now lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Susan and four children and is head coach at Franklin and Marshall College.
He faces an interesting first round clash with former Princeton student Yasser El Halaby. The 24-year-old from Cairo is a former national college champion and is now based in New York. He will be keen to show the veteran White what he can do.
The winner of this battle faces another challenging encounter in the second round with the winner of the first round clash between Julian Illingworth (USA) and Ireland's Liam Kenny. No prizes for guessing who the home crowd will be cheering on.
The bottom half of the draw is another multi-national mixture, with second seed Barker due to face Canada's Shahier Razik in the second round.
Another Canadian, Shawn De Lierre, from Montreal, faces a tough time in the opening round against Finland's #3 seed Olli Tuominen, one of the most experienced and physically formidable opponents in the game.
Flying the flag for Egypt is Hisham Ashour, the number six seed and brother of the mercurial Ramy. Hisham faces a qualifier in the first round.
For a comprehensive range of player bios and stats click HERE
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