Power Subdues Nicol
Mar 14, 2005, by Martin Bronstein in London
SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2005 all Rights Reserved;

LIVE FROM CANARY WHARF, MONDAY MARCH 14 2005 [pool draws and results]

TIRED NICOL PUNISHED BY RESTED POWER

Jonathon Power, rested and sharp in London, photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

Jonathon Power is picking his tournaments very carefully these days and it seems to be paying off. He decided not to play the British Open and two weeks later made the final of the Canadian Classic. He passed on Kuwait last week while Nicol played his heart out to reach the final, to be beaten by David Palmer.

Tonight Kuwait showed up in Nicol’s legs – or lack of them. Power was full of vigour and wielding that wonderful racket of his. He did very little wrong and even had the rub of the green, getting the odd strange bounce which produced errors from Nicol. But right from the first game Nicol was making the sort of unforced errors that were never part of his game. At his peak, Nicol gave his opponents nothing; if they wanted a point they had to work for it, earn it and win it.

Trailing 2-3 he hit a backhand drive into the tin, followed this with a forehand slam into the tin and completed the hat-trick with a forehand drop into the tin. This put Power at 7-2 and, with the special scoring – first to nine pints - Power only really needed to keep the ball in play. He won the game 9-4 and left the court wondering whether this was going to be an easy day at the office, or Nicol was just slow in starting.

The answer was not long in coming as Power’s speed, range of shots and anticipation was simply too much for a player who should have stayed in bed. It really was no contest and after cleaning up the second game 9-5, Power ran through the third at a canter for a 9-0 decision and a 25 minute victory – certainly his quickest ever over Nicol.

Apart from the other factors the reduced scoring works in Powers favour and as he said after the match he would be quite happy if the games were first to three. He would be untouchable.

RICKETTS RULES
James Willstrop and Anthony Ricketts thrilled the crowd in the way that Nicol and Power used to do. I can see this confrontation taking front and center stage in the next five years, a perfect pairing of the focused, hard-hitting Ricketts against the flair and audacity of the tall young Yorkshireman.

Right now Ricketts has a five year advantage over the 21-year old Willstrop, five years of experience that tells him when to chance his arm or when to play it hard and safe and it finally told in a 3/1 victory over 40 minutes. They still supplied some wonderful squash with the accent on attack and rarely dropping the pace to duel down the left wall. Ricketts is still building on his performance in New York when he knocked out a string of stars.

SHABANA OUTSHOOTS PALMER

Audacious Shabana takes the measure of Palmer, photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

Amr Shabana is probably the only player on the circuit with more audacity than Willstrop. He is incapable of ignoring a loose shot and in his match against David Palmer, most of those landed in the nick. Even with Palmer breathing down his neck expecting the drop shot, Shabana executed them so perfectly that Palmer could only watch them roll dead. It was an entertaining see-saw match with Shabana shooting his way to an 8-4 lead in the first game only to relax to allow Palmer to fight back to 7-8. He finally took the game ball with a stroke but it was looking close.

There was the odd long rally but Shabana’s game doesn’t allow for 80 shots duels; he either wins the point with a winner or loses on an error. Palmer’s is experienced enough to know that and he waited for the inevitable errors which came in the second game which he won 9-4 in just six minutes. He won the third game by the same margin in the same time and it looked as though Shabana was about to let it go. But he calmed down in the fourth, was judicious in his shooting and the two players played hardball until 5-5, with barely an error to be found. Three times Shabana reached up high and hit a backahand volley into the dead nick on his way to an 8-5 lead and when Palmer put the ball out of court on the next rally, the match was tied.

Although Palmer led the fifth game he was never really in control – can anyone control Shabana? – and fell victim to a lovely piece of deception as Shabana flicked the ball one way to send Palmer the other. Shabana lead 7-4 and then tinned the ball from a Palmer backwall boast, a dreadful error seeing as he had Palmer at his mercy. Once more Palmer staged a comeback to get to 6-8 but could do nothing on the match ball as Shabana hit a fine, tight forehand drive to win the point, the game and the match.

It was 52 minutes of watchable sport, but never really caught fire. However it was the first day in this very beautiful venue and as the week wears on, the action will almost certainly heat up.

BEACHILL’S TOUGHNESS FRUSTRATES WHITE

Lee Beachill stymies John White, photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

It was left to the last match of the evening to get some good old-fashioned length bashing and some rallies that last longer than six shots. Lee Beachill and John White are anything but hackers, but Beachill knew he had to keep it tight and long against White, the renowned shotmaker. And Beachill did just that; hard tight drives, perfectly placed cross courts and inch perfect drives left White very little to play with. The first game went to overtime with Beachill just snatching it 10-8, White hurling his racket on the last point to get a conduct warning. But you could feel the spectator sympathy with White who didn’t play badly or do anything wrong; the ball simply wasn’t rolling for him.

He came out refreshed and full of fight for the second game to outplay Beachill and lead 7-2. Ah! We thought, at last we have a real fight. Well the fight came from Beachilll who refused to give White an inch and climbed back to tie the game 7-7. Three points came from White’s loose shots that resulted in strokes against him and Beachill finished the game off to win 9-7.

In the third game White led yet again but failed to keep the lead. Beachill was playing well, playing accurately and moreover reading White’s every move. So there really wasn’t a lot that White could do to wrest control. His frustration grew – he has not had a great year – and even though there are no ranking points involved, he would like to notch up the odd victory.

As expected Beachill won the third game 9-7 looking good for a spot in Friday’s final.



CANARY WHARF FIRST POOL MATCHES [pool draws and results]

CANADA PLACE GROUP
Jonathon Power (CAN) bt Peter Nicol (ENG) 9-4, 9-5, 9-0. (25mins)
Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt James Willstrop (ENG) 9-5, 9-5, 5-9, 9-5, (40 mins)

JUBILEE MALL GROUP
Amr Shabana (EGY) bt David Palmer (AUS) 9-7, 4-9, 4-9, 9-5, 9-6. (52 mins)
Lee Beachill (ENG) bt John White (SCO) 10-8,9-7, 9-7 (42mins)

Note: Pool matches are 9 point point-a-rally scoring system.

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