December 11th Men's semi-final Report: By Martin Bronstein
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Dec 11th 1999, 9 PM, Aberdeen
IT'S POWER AND NICOL AGAIN
Martin Bronstein reporting from THE EYE GROUP BRITISH OPEN
AFTER A BRIEF INTERRUPTION OF THE SCOTTISH-CANADIAN WARS due to injuries and usurpers Barada and Parke, hostilities will commence again on Sunday afternoon as Peter Nicol and Jonathan Power meet in the final of the British Open.(check the Power and Nicol head-to-head match record)
Nicol will be defending the title he won 18 months ago when he beat Jansher Khan to take the title for the first time; Power would like to add the title to a list that is almost complete.
"I think I've just played too much squash in the last two weeks," Parke said after his 3/0 loss. "My right leg is aching - I don't think anything is torn."
Nicol said he felt the difference was about ten percent - he was up ten percent and Parke was down ten percent.
Parke started the first game like a typhoon and really didn't put a foot wrong for the 21 minutes, although he admitted he felt he dropped off towards the end. Nicol was fast and sharp and while he made a few errors he never looked vulnerable. The 15-13 scoreline promised more draining games and while Parke managed to keep level to 7-all in the second game Nicol was now finding just that touch more power and accuracy and his drives to length were putting prerssure on Parke and Nicol took won 15-10 to go two up.
Parke never attained the form he showed in the quarters when he demolished Paul Johnson and in the third Nicol slowly pulled away. At 13-7 Nicol played Parke out of position and drove to the left back corner. Parke, stranded in the opposite corner, threw his racquet at the ball. It was symbolic of throwing in the towel and in a minute Nicol had the game 15-8 and a berth in the final. [photos from the Nicol-Parke match]
POWER'S REVENGE
Ahmed Barada beat Jonathon Power in five in Cairo and the question was could he do it again. The answer is no. As good and as delightful a player as Barada is, he is still liable to hit streaks of carelessness. You almost get the feeling that other players know that if they hang in, Barada will turn a lead into a losing situation.
Power is the better player because he never allows an error to become a lapse. Although it sounds very unexciting, at their exalted level the name of the game becomes consistency.
The first game was a good example. A completely different sort of squash than the Parke/ Nicol match, full of brilliance and rare racquet work that puts Power and Barada in a quite different category from the other players.
It was tight until 12-ll When Power hit an unexpected roll corner followed by a forehand drop that even Barada could not pick up. On game point Barada hit the ball out of court to give Power the game 15-11 after 18 minutes.
The second games was almost the same: 13-all and Power was given a stroke, a very iffy decision that Barada could rightly claim tipped the scales. Power took the 15th point with a forehand drop shot and a dejected Barada left the court two games down.
In the third with Power leading 6-3, Barada hit one of his careless streaks and suddenly it was 10-4 with Power five points from victory. The way Power was playing there was just no way that Barada could come back and the nine minute game was over 15-7 in Power's favor.
Barada will have to comfort himself with his memories of Heliopolis while Power goes into tomorrow's final confident in his health and his fitness. His racquet work? Simply sublime. His right arm should be bronzed and placed in the Art Gallery of Ontario. [photos from the Power-Barada match]
Nicol will be defending the title he won 18 months ago when he beat Jansher Khan to take the title for the first time; Power would like to add the title to a list that is almost complete.
"I think I've just played too much squash in the last two weeks," Parke said after his 3/0 loss. "My right leg is aching - I don't think anything is torn."
Power is the better player because he never allows an error to become a lapse. Although it sounds very unexciting, at their exalted level the name of the game becomes consistency.
It was tight until 12-ll When Power hit an unexpected roll corner followed by a forehand drop that even Barada could not pick up. On game point Barada hit the ball out of court to give Power the game 15-11 after 18 minutes.
In the third with Power leading 6-3, Barada hit one of his careless streaks and suddenly it was 10-4 with Power five points from victory. The way Power was playing there was just no way that Barada could come back and the nine minute game was over 15-7 in Power's favor.