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this page updated June 12, 2001 10:56 PM
Double Aussie Champs: David Palmer fights off gritty Chris Walker; Sarah Fitz-Gerald over Carol Owens.
Martin
Bronstein reports on the British Open Finals, Birmingham.
© 2001 Squashtalk, Photos: © 2001
Fritz Borchert
FINALS OF THE BRITISH OPEN JUNE 10 2001
NEARLY
A HISTORIC VICTORY
Chris
Walker, the old man of British squash, took the first two games from David
Palmer with skill, guile and panache, but fell off the pace quite markedly,
to lose the last three. It could have been a historic victory – first qualifier
to win the title. Nevertheless it was a landmark victory, Palmer being the
first Australian to win the title since Geoff Hunt won it for the last time
in 1981.
LONGER,
SLOWER
Walker, who celebrates his 34th birthday tomorrow (June11) knew exactly
what to do against the vastly improved Palmer: great length and slow the
pace. 
It
worked perfectly and Walker took a lead in the first game that he never
relinquished. He led 10-6 and then 13-9, all set for the first game but
he then hit the ball at himself to give Palmer his tenth point. Palmer
then smashed a cross court volley into the nick to make it 13-11 and on
his serve Walker audaciously buried the ball in the nick to get to game
ball 14-ll only to get stroked on the next rally to make it 14-12.
Palmer then ended the game with a backhand drop into the tin to give Walker the first game 15-12. It had been an engrossing 22 minutes with Walker being the bolder, hitting drops from the back of the court and taking advantage of Palmer’s hesitancy.
MORE WINNERS, MORE NO LETS
Walker continued in the second and ran quickly to a 5-1 lead, a psychological
advantage, as Palmer would point out later.
So
Palmer was playing catchup and Walker still held the ascendancy. There
were some quite wonderful rallies with Walker saving points with superhuman
retrievals and then finishing them astonishing winners. He was still ‘playing
the rules’ and calling for lets in positions when it would have been advantageous
for him to play the ball. During the entire match, Walker made 33 requests
for lets and was awarded 20, while the stats for Palmer 9 and 8. (See
my June Global Gallery for the story behind these stats).
VIOLENCE
WITH A RUBBER BALL?
When
Walker led 13-11, Palmer hit a ball that ended up in the middle of the court
at the back. He still took the T and Walker hit him with his shot. Palmer
got upset thinking it was deliberate, which was strange for a player of his
experience. The referee gave Walker the point to put him at 14-ll. The next
rally ended when Walker was denied a let and then Palmer hit a crisp winning
forehand drive to length to put the score at 14-13. During the next rally
Walker hit a forehand drop and Palmer, who could have picked it up with ease,
was blocked by Walker. His appeal for a let was denied, one of the worst decisions
of the week and one which cost Palmer the second game.
AND
NOW, THE END IS NEAR….
Palmer
had no need to fret: he took a quick 6-1 lead in the third from a Walker
whose tank was obviously beginning to read empty. 
He
was warned for being slow back to receive serve. But all this was superfluous:
he decided to have a vacation and gave the game away 15-2 in six minutes.
He had tried this tactic before against Rodney Eyles, giving Eyles false
confidence and when Walker came back strong for the fourth he took Eyles
by surprise and won.
This time Palmer was wiser. He realised that Walker was tiring and that his length had disappeared with his strength. He hit three backhand drops and three forehand drops to go to 6-1 and Walker was unable to get near them. Suddenly Palmer was in charge and he was sending the ball short at every opportunity to lead 10-3. Walker regrouped to take 5 points in a row, but in truth it was his last hurrah. Palmer stopped the run with an inch perfect cross court that died in the back corner and from there went on to win it 15-9 and, with more of the same, took the fifth game 15-1 in under ten minutes. There was loud long applause for both players and Palmer was a worthy winner, a player who has now learned to curb his temper.
RED
FACES AT THE INSTITUTE
Palmer’s win will cause some red faces at the Australian Institute of Sport,
which Palmer left after a pretty vigorous dispute over using Joe Shaw as his
coach. Shaw and Palmer met up with coach Shaun Moxham in Antwerp, Palmer moved
there and under Moxham’s technical and tactical guidance, he rose from 30
in the world to number three and now British Open Champion.
Despite the millions of government dollars expended by the Institute, they have never produced a British Open men’s champion. Palmer said at the press conference later that this incident inspires him, especially when he plays Institute graduates.
FITZGERALD
DOES AT LAST
I
cannot think of a person in squash who is not delighted at Sarah 
Fitz-Gerald’s
long awaited British Open title, the one cup that is missing from her
collection. She
won it as expected, not as easily however, but her consistency was
finally the factor. Carol Owens, who, like Sarah comes from Melbourne,
made a great match of it for one game, but then blew up to lose the last
two games 9-0 and 9-2, due to a bundle of errors and perhaps a lack of
patience.
A
THINKING WOMAN’S GAME
The
first game was a cracker with a whole new different Fitz-Gerald; not the player
with a bazooka in her racquet, but one who knew exactly what to do to stop
Owens out- shooting her. This was thinking squash and wonderfully gripping
spectacle to watch. Whereas yesterday’s semi-final found Fitz-Gerald and Joyce
repeating the same predictable patterns, today these two skilled players found
new patterns, new replies, new attacks. Owens is a precision player who can
hit the winners when the time comes and Fitz-Gerald admitted that she is wary
of Owen’s power on a short ball.
DRAMA
TO THE VERY LAST POINT 
Although Fitz-Gerald led 6-3 Owens never let up and showed no nerves. For
a change she was in top gear from the beginning and she played as though she
had no fear of the Fitz-Gerald reputation. High tight balls down the left
wall, cross court lobs, backhand drops and forehand volley drops are all part
of her well used repertoire and she uses them without fear. Fitz-Gerald was
equal to all of it which made this 28 game so good.
Fitz-Gerald got to serve for the game at 8-7 but there were another 11 rallies before she got the winning point on a forehand drop. Owens did not deserve to lose it and a game like this indicates that there is a whole lot more to come. But sadly this was not the case.
Owens came apart at the seams and lost the second game 9-0 in five minutes. If anything can destroy a player’s confidence it is this sort of let-down. Owens never recovered and once Fitz-Gerald had chalked up a 6-1 lead it was a foregone conclusion. The indulged in some long rallies down the backhand wall, each testing the other’s patience, but nothing really came of the result. The 13 minute game came to an end with a Fitz-Gerald cross court volley that rolled dead in the nick, and to almost no emotional display, Sarah Fitz-Gerald became the British Open champion, giving Australia a double for the first time since 1981.
FINALS.
Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Aus) bt Carol Owens (Aus) 10-9, 9-0, 9-2 52 mins.
David Palmer (Aus) bt Chris Walker (Eng) 12-15, 13-15, 15-2, 15-9, 15-5. 85 mins.
