Bowls: Duff joins list of the fallen

THE veteran Australian, Dennis Katunarich, extended his sequence of surprise victories over more illustrious opponents to reach the quarter-finals of the Midland Bank World Indoor Championships at Preston yesterday.

The 42-year-old, who had eliminated the sixth seed, David Bryant, in the first round, upset another Englishman in his second- round match yesterday, the 11th- seeded Hugh Duff.

Katunarich, the former Australian champion, edged past Duff

7-2, 4-7, 2-7, 7-2, 7-6 in a five-set match of contrasting fortunes. Duff, who won the world indoor title five years ago for his native Scotland though he now represents England, looked assured of victory when he established a 6-1 advantage in the final set, but the Australian responded to record a memorable victory.

Katunarich now plays England's Tony Allcock, the third seed and the winner of the tournament in 1986 and 1987. Allcock had an easy passage into the quarter-finals with a 7-6, 7-3, 7-5 win over Scotland's Jim Muir.

MIDLAND BANK WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS (Preston) Singles second round: D Katunarich (Aus) bt H Duff (Eng) 7-2 4-7

2-7 7-2 7-6; A Allcock (Eng) bt J Muir (Scot) 7-6 7-3 7-5. Pairs quarter-finals: G Smith and A Thomson (Eng) bt I Campbell and R Grant (Scot) 7-1 7-1 7-3.