Nicol Tops Power for 16-15 career edge

Nicol takes 16-15 lead in lifetime head-to-head

Jonathon Power's hopes of arriving at this month's US Open Championship in Boston on a run of five consecutive wins over world champion Peter Nicol were blown apart in Hong Kong tonight when the 29-year-old lefthanded Englishman won the Cathay Pacific Open final 15-13 15-9 14-15 15-10 in 109 minutes. Nicol was out to avenge the loss of his Commonwealth Games title in Manchester, England, last month and to turn the tide in his personal battle with the 28-year-old Canadian.

The result kept Nicol ahead both in the Hong Kong rivalry between the two players and their lifetime head-to-head record. It was Nicol's third Hong Kong title win over Power, who managed to stop him only in the 1998 final. They had both lost to Jansher Khan in previous years. It takes Nicol back into a 16-15 lead in matches over Power after losing the last four encounters.

NICOL HAPPY TO BEGIN A NEW STREAK
"Records do not matter that much. It is getting back into winning form that matters," Nicol said after the final. "The only time I was in trouble tonight was when I started enjoying the rallies and forgetting that I was here to win, and win as quickly as possible. I am disappointed not to have made it an emphatic straight games result, but a win is a win."

The top seeded world champion added that he felt he had put himself back on track in Hong Kong after an exhausting and not entirely satisfying Commonwealth Games last month. Winning a demanding quarter-final against Lee Beachill, the British National Champion and Nicol's Gold medal doubles partner in Manchester last month, was important. Preventing Power from extending his run to five wins in a row was vital.

The result was conditioned by Power's physical inability to stay with powerful pace of the early exchanges. He had played 80 minutes against Australia's David Palmer in the semi-finals, and finished with blood streaming from a racket strike split in his brow.

NEW OR OLD INJURY ?
At 8-8 in the 33 minute opening game of the final, with Nicol driving back from 2-7 in a single hand, the Canadian came off court claiming that his back had gone into spasm and was granted a three minute break for a new injury.

"New injury ?" queried Nicol. "He has been using that injury for the past five years."

Power went to a 13-10 lead on his return to court but was unable to restrain the top seeded Englishman over the last five rallies. "Getting that opener is always important against Jonathon," Nicol said. "But the important game tonight was the third, which was just as long, and by that time he was moving freely again. I lost it on a single point tiebreak, but I made him work so hard for it that he had nothing left to start the fourth game with. He could not step up the court against me, which meant I could dominate the play."

STRATEGIC NO-SET
A measure of Power's stress came with his call for a single point tiebreak after leading 14-12 in that third game, effectively granting Nicol a chance at matchball. He took the game with a well managed forehand drop shot, but lost 10 of the following dozen rallies.

"I always call for one point instead of three at vital stages," Power admitted. "I was moving well again by that time, but winning a match from two games down is not like winning from two games up. I left it too late."

Nicol saw the decision as a desperate call from a tired man, so he stepped up the pressure another notch in the last game. "It was a long hard match and I will admit that the energy I saved earlier in the tournament, when Joe Kneipp stopped with knee problems in the fourth game of our second round match and when Stewart Boswell came to our semi-final still suffering from an hour and a half against Ong Beng Hee, was what made my fourth game attack possible."

A burst ball at 8-2 helped a little more by giving him a respite before dealing witgh the inevitable counter-attack that took Power to 7-9 and 10-12. Power, ever the entertainer, tried to re-introduce the old ball when a spectator threw it back while Nicol was warming up the new one.

There was not a game without some Power incident for the capacity crowd to enjoy. In the second he was hanging from the top edge of the backwall to stretch his back. In the third he demanded that the referee, Chris Sinclair from Australia, call his lets for him to prevent unnecessary scrambling about. Later in the fourth he stopped playing when under no pressure at all and successfully appealed for a let because someone began clapping in mid-rally.

Through it all, Nicol was re-establishing his reputation for relentless concentration, extraordinary court coverage and sheer staying power. "I only got into trouble when I forgot the need to finish the rallies rather than be drawn into the action," he said.

"It was not a great performance, but it was a good and timely win. Now I have to make sure my play continues to improve as the tour continues."

Power bemoaned his late comeback attempt in game three: "I left it too late, " said Power. "Winning a match from two games down is not the same as two games up."

Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Championship Hong Kong Park Indoor Games Hall Final Results: