SquashTalk >Cathay Pacific 2002, Hong Kong, China > Round Two (Thurs) Report

Cathay Pacific 2002

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SquashTalk reports from Hong Kong with Colin McQuillan

Tournament reports last updated 30-aug-02 8:59

• 2002 Cathay Pacific Current Draw

POWER CALM AMIDST STORM
Jonathon Power of Canada, who won the Hong Kong title in 1998 and has lost in three other finals, today dealt calmly with a furious challenge from Australia's Paul Price at the bottom end of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open draw to earn a quarter-final place against Thierry Lincou, the young Frenchman who put out world champion Peter Nicol last year.

"I always have to take Paul very seriously," admitted the Canadian second seed after a 55 minute 17-16 15-7 15-8 win. "We had to deal with some seriously weird refereeing and that caused a bit of early backchat. We are two of the most willing on court debaters, I guess. But I was pleased as I got my game going towards the end."

Power On A Surge
Power was polite about the need to treat a much improved player with caution, but it was plain in his post-match interviews that he sees the next round pretty much in coasting terms. Lincou himself reinforced the impression by admitting that he had never beaten the Canadian and was still at a loss to understand exactly what happened when Power dismissed him from the second round of last year's Al Ahram competition in Cairo soon after his breakthrough in Hong Kong.

"I don't know how he did it but he beat me very quickly and without much effort," the young Frenchman said today. "I will have to get my game together tomorrow better than I managed today." Lincou today defeated Adrian Grant, the 21-year-old English qualifier, 15-11 15-12 12-15 15-5 in 54 minutes today, but acknowledged that he was a bit lucky getting a two game lead while playing almost totally defensive squash against a youngster still flying after the best win of his career over the Welsh champion, Alex Gough, in the previous round.

"Then he was in complete control in the third game. I was just chasing the ball," Lincou said. "I really only got my game going in a positive way in the fourth game." There will be no such 'rollover' attitudes on show for Power at the semi-final stage on Saturday.

The adjacent quarter-final is an all-Australian affair between David Palmer, the defending Hong Kong champion who defeated Egypt's Amr Shabana 15-13 15-8 15-6 in 41 minutes in today's closing match, and Anthony Ricketts, who put out the seventh seeded Mark Chaloner of England 15-12 15-13 15-7 in 44 minutes. Both are men who relish combat and take to it with almost bloodthirsty enthusiasm. They will not step lightly aside for each other, let alone for a Canadian who likes to make jokes as he plays.

KNEE LOCK
Peter Nicol's campaign to reclaim the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open title he won in 1999 and 2000, but relinquished last year when unexpectedly beaten by Lincou in the first round, received an energy injection at the Hong Kong Park Indoor Sports Hall when his opponent, Joe Kneipp of Australia, was forced to retire from their second round encounter after 64 minutes. Kneipp was fighting back strongly after dropping the first two games when his right knee locked up in mid-stroke with the score at 15-12 15-3 10-15 8-8.

" It was particularly galling because I was in charge of the match at that stage," Kneipp said later. "I took the third game well, led 5-0 in the fourth and was playing a winner on the forehand side when I felt something click in the side of my knee as I swung my weight through the shot. "The same thing happened to me playing against Alex Gough in Birmingham during last year's British Open and I was out for a month after that. All I could think about when it happened tonight was that I had to get treatment immediately to save losing another month out of the game." Strangely, the knee clicked back into place 20 minutes later while Kneipp was applying ice to the joint in the dressing room. "I asked Peter if he would mind going back on court, but he wasn't too keen," said the Australian.

"As far as I am concerned it was a win and one that kept a little energy in the back pocket for the rest of the tournament," responded Nicol, the world champion who lost his Commonwealth Games title last month when he finished the final in Manchester seriously depleted physically against Jonathon Power of Canada. "I started well tonight but allowed Joe to move back into the match by not dealing with his positive move up the court in the third game.

I would have won anyway, I am sure, but it might have been very hard work to get there from the point we were at." He might be grateful for that energy saving in the next round.

BEACHILL TAMES WHITE
Lee Beachill, the British National Champion and Nicol's gold medal doubles partner at the Commonwealth Games earlier this month, came through to meet him in the quarter-finals with a firm and confident 47 minute 15-8 15-10 15-8 win over John White, the big-hitting Scottish registered sixth seed. Beachill was the closest man to Nicol after the Manchester final. They were into doubles competition together the very next day and the 24-year-old Yorkshireman was keen to express his admiration for the way the 29-year-old former Scot put aside misery over the loss of his Commonwealth singles title to pursue the compensating doubles triumph.

The British National Champion probably knows better than any other player what caused Nicol, the reigning World Champion, World Number One and British Open Champion, to fail in the Commonwealth final, and Beachill looked against White like a man determined to reach the quarter-final that would allow him to exploit that knowledge.

The opposing quarter to Nicol and Beachill in the top half of the draw receives Stewart Boswell, an Australian of a rather quieter presentational style than either Palmer or Ricketts, who had to play his way out of serious trouble today against Egypt's world junior champion, Karim Darwish, to reach a quarter-final against Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee.

The Malaysian effectively staked his claim today to the Asian Games Gold Medal in South Korea next month when he defeated Pakistan's Mansoor Zaman, the other probable Asian Games finalist, 17-15 15-10 15-13 in 52 minutes. Boswell looked headed for an even more straightforward progression until the Egyptian youngster unleashed a second game assault that took him to leads of 6-1 and 9-5, a tiebreak at 14-14, a game ball at 16-16 and was deprived only by a cracking forehand nick shot after 23 minutes. The problems merely escalated for Boswell in the 12 minute third game as Darwish went quickly to 4-0, 8-1 and 13-9 in very much the same manner. It was only as the Australian worked his way back to 13-13 before losing the last two rallies of the game that it became apparent he would survive the physical resources of the junior champion to close out the final game in five hands.

Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Championship Hong Kong Sports Centre Second Round Results:
[1] Peter Nicol (Eng) bt Joseph Kneipp (Aus) 15-12, 15-3, 10-15, 9-8 retired knee injury
[10] Lee Beachill (Eng) bt [6] John White (Sco) 15-8, 15-10, 15-8
[4] Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt Karim Darwish (Egy) 15-10, 17-16, 13-15, 15-9
[8] Ong Beng Hee (Mas) bt Mansoor Zaman (Pak) 17-15, 15-10, 15-13
[11] Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt [7] Mark Chaloner (Eng) 15-12, 15-13, 15-7
[3] David Palmer (Aus) bt [15] Amr Shabana (Egy) 15-13, 15-8, 15-6
[5] Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt [Q] Adrian Grant (Eng) 15/11, 15/12, 12/15, 15/5
[2] Jonathon Power (Can) bt [16] Paul Price (Aus) 17-16, 15-7, 15-8

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