Power and Nicol Renew their Rivalry

POWER AND NICOL - FINALISTS AGAIN

David Palmer and Jonathon Power ©2002 Fritz Borchert

Jonathon Power of Canada left his semi-final of the Cathay Pacific Open in Hong Kong tonight looking more like a prizefighter than a squashplayer.

He survived a torrid encounter with David Palmer of Australia, the defending Hong Kong Champion, and finished the last game of their 80 minute 15-8 12-15 15-5 15-13 semi-final with blood streaming from a half inch split above the right eyebrow.

Peter Nicol of England , the top seed, came through hthe other semi-final 15-9 15-9 15-5 in 42 minutes today, smiling and laughing in his corner between games with his training partner, Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia, as his opponent, Stewart Boswell of Australia, failed almost completely to raise himself after squeezing past the Malaysian by a single point in their 85 minute quarter-final the previous evening.

Power's cut came from an accidental racket strike at 6-6 in the fourth game.

Tournament Referee Chris Clark tried to get the action stopped to deal with the bleeding, but neither player wanted to interrupt the run of play and the match referee, Jamshed Gul, did not enforce the rule that insists flowing blood should be stopped and covered.

"I thought David was tiring and I didn't want to give him a long rest while a doctor dealt with a cut I could mop up as I went along," said Power. "It is the first time I have been marked on the face from squash, although I have bruised and scraped just about every other party of me. The doctors say it does not need stitches and my good looks will not be spoiled, so it is not a big thing." He came through demanding encounters with Paul Johnson, Paul Price and Thierry Lincou to reach Palmer, complaining only that the sandpaper-like floor surface of the Honk Kong showcourt was roughing up his new JP Sports shoes more than he would have liked.

"We are all suffering. It is a great playing surface, but very hard on the shoes. Ong Beng Hee has practically destroyed a new $300 pair this week."

The Canadian could have taken more damage from the diving retrievals and the tough body contacts that featured throughout the semi-final. Palmer thought he might have taken the fourth game if the referee had not allowed Power so many lets when he chose to play straight through the Australian when the ball was played away into deep space, but he acknowledged that it had been one of the least combative and cleanest contested of the pair's battles.

"I started a bit slowly after a hard five setter with Anthony Ricketts last evening and then he got a bit lucky with mishits and nicks at the end of the fourth. Otherwise we could have been into a fifth and then anything might have gone from there."

In fact the semi-final was more conclusively Power's than that analysis suggests. The Canadian took leads of 6-3 and 13-7 in the opening game, 8-0 in the third and 14-l1 in the fourth. Only in the second, where he allowed Palmer to take the front position more often and was drawn into extended rallying, did he struggle to contain the big hitting and the wrong-footing wrist strength of the big Australian.

"I thought it was one of our better matches," Power said afterwards as he mopped at his bloody eyebrow. "I have come through it in much better shape than I look, and I can't wait to get it on with Peter to decide who leads in the head-to-head, who is king of Hong Kong and who wears the undefeated squash shoes.

"If anything, the greatest pressure might come from having to defend the undefeated record of the JP Sports shoe."

They have met in three of the Cathay Pacific finals and each lost another to the mighty Jansher Khan. Nicol is 2-1 ahead on the Hong Kong record book, and their all-time head-to-head record stands tantalisingly at 15-15 . But Power knows he has won the last four of their confrontations, including the final in Manchester late last month in which he took away Nicol's Commonwealth Games title.

It has to be said, however, that there was no comparison between the light-hearted and cheery countenance with which Nicol approached today's match and the dour and dispirited man who faded out of the Manchester final.

Still World Champion and World Number One, Nicol has enjoyed a fortunate top seeded run through this Hong Kong Open; easing past Omar El Borolossy after a tiebreak opening game in the first round, escaping from a serious counter-attack from Joe Kneipp when the Australian's knee locked up after an hour of play, raising his game in the old imperious style to win a hard-running straight games quarter-final against his Commonwealth Games Gold Medal doubles partner Lee Beachill, and today benefiting from the punishment his training partner handed Boswell at the same stage.

"Today was almost like a training run for me," acknowledged Nicol. "Stewart just couldn't command many of the rallies and I was able to play pretty much at my own pace and to my own demands. It was very useful really because I had to think positively about finishing the rallies efficiently, so I should go into tomorrow's final not too tired and looking to play in the same sort of positive attacking style.

"I would rather have played Ong Beng Hee because it would have been great to meet in a major semi-final for the first time, but I think it might have been harder because he seemed less damaged by the quarter-final with Stewart, apart from losing it 17-16 in the fifth on a doubtful no-let call.

"But I am happy to take advantage of the situation and to reach the final in the best shape I could hope for. Four in a row from Jonathon doesn't really worry me. He once beat me six times running when he first broke through in the late 1990s. These things sometimes go in alternating runs, so maybe it is time to start my own winning spell here in Hong Kong."

Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Championship Hong Kong Park Indoor Games Hall Semi-final Results: