SquashTalk >Cathay Pacific 2001, Hong Kong, China > Finals from Colin McQuillan

...Colin McQuillan reports from Hong Kong....

Palmer and Joyce Win In Hong Kong
Finals day at the Cathay Pacific Squash Open turned out to be an anti-climax. Both matches were decided in straight games, Australia's David Palmer beating Thierry Lincou of France 15-13, 15-6, 15-9 in 46 minutes while New Zealand's Leilani Joyce defeated world champion Carol Owens of Australia 9-7, 9-6, 9-0 in 39 minutes. Palmer, a 24-year-old from Lithgow in NSW, began with a flourish and ended up as the new world number one, the first Australian man to fill the role since July 1993 when Chris Dittmar briefly displaced Jansher Khan of Pakistan.

He led 7-1, three cracking forehands helping his cause. It was looking to be a one-sided affair but Lincou responded to the situation with five winners. Palmer conceded two strokes and made five unforced errors to give the Frenchman the lead at 12-11. The Aussie was back on level terms as Lincou's backhand floated out of court. A tight backhand drop gave him gameball and he repeated the dose to end this 18-minute opener.

It was a David Palmer show in the second and third games. He led throughout, forcing the pace and had nine winners in the second and six in the third. Lincou had a lot of support from the crowd but was chasing a lost cause.

"I wasn't thinking of the world number one position. I was more concerned about winning the tournament", said Palmer. "I dominated the court and was driving the ball deep to keep him away from volleying. I felt I broke him in the second game", he added.

Lincou was gracious in defeat. "David was too complete a player. It was difficult to get past him. I did not feel I was going about with the same degree of confidence as I had during the week. After coming back from my wrist injury, I set myself three goals. I wanted to beat Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power and to get to the later stages of major events. Here, I have achieved two of these three".

There were Australian hopes at the start of the finals session in Hong Kong for a double promotion to pole position of the whole professional game, a measure not reached since the days of Geoff Hunt and Heather McKay back in the 1970s, but Melbourne's Carol Owens, the world champion playing in her last match as an Australian before she changes registration to New Zealand on September 1 2001, could not achieve the victory against Leilani Joyce, the present incumbent and not just a Kiwi but a Maori to boot, that would have secured the record.

Joyce was the top seed in Hong Kong and may have been more pleased this week to have beaten Sarah Fitz-Gerald, another Melbourne player, 9-5 3-9 1-9 9-3 9-6 in a 53 minute semi-final on Saturday. The Kiwi had beaten Owens in everything except last November's World Open Final, whereas she had lost four in a row to Fitz-Gerald as the Melbourne 32-year-old ran up a string of ten world tour victories in a row since then.

"I want to dedicate this win in Hong Kong, which is my first major title since winning the British Open Champion in October 2000, to Richard Hawkes who was a judge in Hong Kong for many years and died in Auckland just a few weeks ago," Joyce said as she took the trophy. "Julie Hawkes did a lot for me in the early years of my career and often coached me in Hong Kong while her husband was busy with his court work. They were both very helpful and supportive and it is likely I would not be a successful professional without their help. "It fits that my winning the final of the first joint Hong Kong Championship should be dedicated to his memory."

Palmer was pretty quick with a dedication too. "I'd like to thank Joe Shaw for all he did for me in the early years of my career," Palmer said. "He is here in Hong Kong this week and it is the first time he has ever seen me play at the top end of the game. It was good that I could send him home with a win."

Shaw himself, a veteran squash coach and a long time opponent of the Australian institute system from which he determinedly barred Palmer as a youngster fighting his way out of a NSW coal mining town with very little squash tradition, pointed out that he was looking on a former pupil who was British Open Champion as well as Hong Kong Champion and World Number One. "I can retire happy on that," he said. Owens started nervously against Joyce, then lost the first game unluckily, the second despondently and the third hopelessly.

"That has to be the worst third game I have ever played," Owens admitted after the game. "It is standard in squash that the match is not lost until the last point. I won the world title from two games down. But this time I just could not drive myself into the fightback. "I had a pretty easy run to the final while Leilani was battling her way past a pretty tough top half that ended with her big match with Sarah. Sometimes that balance works against you and I certainly found it hard to raise my game today."

At 7-7 in then opening game Owens introduced a carefully crafted rally which should have taken her to game point, but clipped the tin with the last vital backhand volley drop. She then allowed a backhand drive to drift above the courtline on the lefthand wall and was blasted out of the game by a low cross court forehand kill after assuming a drop to the top right corner was a winner. In the second she contested everything to 6-6 but lost the last two points to more backhand errors. In the third she earned only a let and a tinned backhand mistake from her opponent.

"We have many battles to come and this time it was just my turn," said Joyce modestly. But she was enjoying the win so much that she failed to appear in the press room for interview until after the men's final had started and half the journalists had gone back courtside. Strange behaviour from an established world number one and not a problem we had with the new male version. Palmer was waiting patiently outside while we talked to his beaten opponent, then virtually talked his way through then interview without waiting for a question Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship Final Results Men: David Palmer (Aus) bt Thierry Lincou (Fra) 15-13 15-6 15-9 Women: Leilani Joyce (NZ) bt Carol Owens (Aus) 9-7 9-6 9-0

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