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/Heliopolis 2001

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Peter Nicol sees Resurgance in Self-Confidence

by Colin McQuillan, Sept 9 2001 photos © 2001 Gary Sherman in Giza, Debra Tessier

Canada's Jonathon Power,the world number two this month, was not up to the task tonight of exploiting Peter Nicol's temporary loss of confidence when it came to a full blown final on the hot and lively Egyptian showcourt mounted for the Al Ahram International Championship on the desert sands beside the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Nicol, the top seeded defending champion, took his third Al Ahram International title and his fourth major tournament in Egypt under the Al Ahram sponsorship banner by defeating Power 15-8 17-15 15-12 in tonight's 64 minute final after removing David Palmer, the Australian who took over his world number one spot this month, 13-15 15-11 15-8 15-11 from a 74 minute semi-final on Saturday.

The win improved his overall count against Power to 13-11 in matches, 43-38 in games and 979-955 in points since their first encounter in the 1995 Canadian Open.

"I was not so much elated at the end of the final as relieved. I am back in winning

Peter Nicol takes it again

mode." Power reached the final without dropping a game and defeated England's Mark Chaloner 15-9 15-13 15-10 in 52 minutes in the second semi-final, but he looked tonight as if he had played a lot longer and harder to reach this final. He has been in Thailand since contracting tonsillitis and spending three days on a drip in hospital instead of playing the Hong Kong Open late last month. The quality of competition there cannot have contributed much to his performances in Cairo.

Nicol hit his lowest point for years in Hong Kong when he went out in the first round to Thierry Lincou of France and found himself demoted to world number three; the first time for more than three years that he has been out of the top two.

Because of Barada's presence, Power and Nicol have never played each other in the six years of Al Ahram activity on The Giza Plateau just outside Cairo.

Jonathon Power and Peter Nicol warming up before the final

"I knew I had him from the start tonight," Nicol said. "He was grumbling about playing bad shots and getting bad referee calls, but that was because I didn't give him anything to play off. The referee, Nasser Zahran, was fantastically tough on everything, but it was the same for both of us." Nicol notoriously enjoys the hot open air showcourts in Egypt and India. He has now won three Al Ahram International tournaments and the world title under Al Ahram sponsorship, beating Jansher Khan, Ahmed Barada twice and now Power in the finals.

Tonight the 28-year-old London based lefthander was moving sublimely, although he claimed there was still room for improvement in that department. He took the 19 minute opening game from 8-8 in a single hand, the second on a tiebreak that finished on a mishit backhand as Power tried to scrape a clinging drive off the lefthand wall, and the third as Power contributed a brace of despairing penalty strokes to the cause.

The Canadian also threw in four penalty stroke points in the opening eight rallies to give Nicol a 5-3 start. He was moving fairly well himself but, for the most part, his finishing was lamentable. Power had Anthony Hill in his corner between games, which should have helped tactically because Hill now lives in Cairo and presumably has developed some understanding of local conditions and refereeing mentalities, although you would not guess this from his own performance losing to Martin Heath over five games in the first round.

The chat seemed to produce some benefit in the second game when Power took a 3-1 lead with two backhand nick shots and a crashing overhead forehand kill. Referee Zahran's toughest calls came in this game as it moved through 14 lets and two penalty strokes to 14-14 after Nicol lost a game ball striking a forehand into the tin almost in disappointment at the marginal failure of a fine forehand straight nick attempt that Power miraculously scraped up.

The tiebreak was a disaster for Power with a no-let call for 14-16 and a mishit backhand on a clinging drive down the lefthand wall for 15-17. The actual error count to that point had not been high but a confident backhand attack by Nicol took him to 4-0 in the third and Power found three unforced errors, two penalty stroke and another mishit for the Nicol cause before launching a little counter-attack from 7-10 to 10-11. This expired when he served out from the backhand court and received a no-let blow from Zahran when choosing to pull off a clinging backhand drop. A long forehand kill conjured out a deep retrieval from the right back corner for 12-13 suggested the final might have to go to a fourth game at least, but another brace of penalty strokes, one on either hand, put paid to that.

The tour moves on through Boston, Qatar and Melbourne before it ends the year with the 2001 World Open in Bombay. Plenty of time for Power to correct the balance, although Palmer, Lincou, White, Boswell and a few others might have a say in the progress along the way. But Nicol's return to confidence halfway through his semi-final against Palmer in Cairo, and his total command of the lively outdoor conditions of the final tonight, suggest that he has once again taken command of matters in the leading group.

Al Ahram International Squash Championship Cairo , Egypt

Final Result: Peter Nicol (Eng) bt Jonathon Power (Can) 15-8 17-15 15-12

[Complete results on draw page]

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