Power and Nicol Head Toward Familiar Clash
November 15, 2004, Martin Bronstein Live From Toronto; © 2004 Squashtalk, all rights of reproduction reserved.

[PACE Canadian Classic with Martin Bronstein] ... TORONTO, November 15, 2004 --       

Jonathon Power was electric and on his touch against James Willstrop photo © 2004 PACE Canadian Classic.

BEACHILL THE PICK OF THE BUNCH
The four first round matches due to be played at the cathedral like BCE Centre in downtown Toronto were reduced to three when what looked like being the best match of the evening was cancelled when Nick Matthew injured his back in training and was forced to withdraw from his meeting with Anthony Ricketts.

They were well matched: Matthew now up to number six Ricketts used to be while the Australian is fighting his way back up after a knee injury dropped him down to 14 in the world. Furthermore they are both tough players who will not back down in a physical confrontation. It is a meeting that we will look forward to at another time.

The other three matches features world number one Lee Beachill and the two players who have dominated the scene for the last five years – Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power.

BEACHILL FAILS TO SPARE THE ROD
First up was the thin, needs-a-good-meal Beachill who showed why he is ranked number one in the world when he overwhelmed Rodney Durbach, ranked 30, in a little over 30 minutes in their first round match.

On the sparkling four-wall glass court, he played near faultless squash to keep South African Durbach constantly under pressure. Beachill, after some frustrating injury-prone years, is now at the peak of his powers and he brings a ruthless accuracy to the game that few of the top players can live with.

The first game was over in eight minutes with Beachill dictating the play from the word go. He volleyed at every possible opportunity and every loose reply from Durbach was mercilessly punished for a winner.

The second game was even quicker, 11-2 for Beachill in just over six minutes, and it wasn’t until the middle of third game that Beachill made his first error as he tried to slam the ball low for a winner and hit the tin. Durbach found a couple of winners of his own and managed to stay on equal terms to 6-6. Beachill dispelled any ideas a comeback by upping his game to run away to an 11-6 win to earn his place in the quarter-finals.

Beachill is in his finest form and his volley drops found the nick with such regularity that the element of luck as to be ruled out. He was, after all playing a man who has been on the circuit for a dozen years and he made him look very ordinary.

Durbach, who reached the first round after Martin Heath self destructed in their qualifying match, was philosophical afterwards.

“He was too accurate and doesn’t give you too much to hit. His consistency of shot is hard to deal with. It’s a very good court and Beachill has played on it often, but for me it was the first time. I wasn’t used to it and I was struggling to see the ball so that made it very hard to read which meant I was always chasing the ball,” he said.

And you couldn’t but feel sorry for him.

WILLSTROP GETS THE POWER TREATMENT
Although young James Willstrop may be the best prospect to come out of England for decades, when faced with the experience, skill and speed of Jonathon Power, he was only close for a few short spells as Power took a 3/1 victory in 56 minutes.

Every seat was full as Torontonians came to cheer on their hero; the huge cheer that went up as he was introduced indicated that Willstrop would find very little sympathy in tonight’s outing.

The Canadians weren’t disappointed: Power found his touch and pace very quickly and soon had Willstrop stretching into the back corners and diving to the front as he desperately tried to pick up Power’s patented backhand drop shot, the shot that has won him more points than all his other vast array of shots put together.

It doesn’t have to be an outright winner, just tight enough to give his opponents problems in dealing with it. It is from their weak responses that Power goes on to build the rally in his own favour.

Willstrop, at 21 ten years younger than Power and the former junior world champion, started a little tensely, went for winners too quickly and paid the price with a stream of errors allowing Power to jog through the first two games 11-5, 11-2 in 23 minutes.

The third game took a different route as Willstrop cut out his errors and Power went short too quickly. The lanky Yorkshireman led from the start and although Power tied it up at 6-6, Willstrop went ahead with a finely controlled rally and then ran to an 11-9 win with the help of some errors from Power.

Power, with his fitness now questionable, knows that he has to win as quickly as possible in the early rounds to give him strength in the later rounds. So he was quickly back on track in the fourth – despite same strange decisions from the referee – forcing the tiring Willstrop into some rash shots selection. Once he had that fourth game firmly in his grip Power never looked like losing and he took the game 11-4 to the delight of the full galleries.

“I found my rhythm very early in the match,” Power said, explaining his two quick games. “But I lost my concentration in the third and he hit some good shots early on. I also tried to go for winners too quickly and made errors. But he didn’t run for a ball at 8-10 and I that gave me an indication that he was tired. So in the fourth I made him get into some long rallies and that’s when he started making errors,” Power said.

Of his recent injuries he said he was in good shape and moving well. “But it’s not the first matches that worry me, it’s the later rounds where my fitness counts.

NICOL CAN STILL HANDLE THE YOUNG TURKS
It was left to Peter Nicol, former world number one and world champion, to finish the evening in style and his fast reactions and immense experience was simply too much for Englishman Jonathon Kemp. Left-hander Nicol won the first two games comfortably and then found himself in the first tie break of the evening.

Kemp showed his potential – he is still only 45 in the world – by matching Nicol all over the court and at times wrong-footing the man who has been a dominant force in the game for so long. He maynot be the player he was three years ago but he still a joy to watch and his recoveries constantly brought gasps from the spectators. They played another six points as Nicol tried to end the matchin three games but Kemp played superbly to emerge the winner14-12.

The effort had been too much and in the fourth Nicol kept the pace going as Kemp slowly wilted under the relentless attack , managing to win just three points.

PACE CANADIAN CLASSIC - ROUND ONE TOP HALF, Monday 11/15 04 BCE Place Toronto:
Lee Beachill (ENG) (1) def Rodney Durbach (RSA)(Q) 11-3 11-2 11-6 (34m)
Anthony Ricketts (AUS) def Nick Maatthew (ENG) w/o (withdrew injury)
Jonathon Power (CAN)(7) def James Willstrop (ENG) 11-15 11-2 9-11 11-4
Peter Nicol (ENG)(4) def Jonathan Kemp (ENG) (Q) 11-6 11-6 10-11 (2-4) 11-3