Matthew Marches Into Saudi Semis [DRAW/RESULTS]

Matthew over Beachill: Photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

England’s Nick Matthew recovered from a two-game deficit to upset compatriot Lee Beachill and earn the only fully unexpected place in the semi-finals of the Saudi Squash International, the second richest PSA Tour event of the year, in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Khobar.

The new PSA event takes on added significance for the other three semi-finalists – for whom victory would also mean becoming world number one in the first rankings of the New Year.

Matthew, the 11th seed, battled for 85 minutes to beat England team-mate Beachill, the fifth seed, 9-11 4-11 11-5 11-9 11-5.  It was the 25-year-old from Sheffield’s second PSA victory over former world number one Beachill – the first, in his home town in August’s English Open, also a marathon in which Matthew fought back from 2/0 down to win in 93 minutes.

Beachill, whose play has been enigmatic over the past 15 months, has been very inconsistent since an emphatic victory at the US Open, over Peter Nicol, about 15 months ago. That, and Beachill's short stay at the world #1 spot, seems, based on more recent results, to have satisfied his short term ambitions. His more recent results have been erratic and predicting his motivation level in any particular event has been difficult.

Jonathon Power - Happy to Advance Photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

Matthew, a Yorkshireman, now goes on to face Canada’s No2 seed Jonathon Power, who also survived a five-game marathon against Egypt’s tenth seed Karim Darwish.  The 7-11 11-7 11-3 9-11 11-4 win in 67 minutes takes Power into his first PSA Tour semi-final since winning the Motor City Open in October. This will be an intriguing rematch of the US Open semi final this November, in which Power held seemingly insurmountable lead in the fourt game, surrendered a number of points culminating with a fiery disagreement over a serve by Matthew which took a very unusual bounce — and Power afterwords accused Matthew of illegally wetting the ball; though video replays have been inconclusive on the matter.

The other semi-final will feature France’s world No1 Thierry Lincou and third-seeded Australian Anthony Ricketts.  The top-seeded Frenchman beat eighth seed James Willstrop 11-8 11-6 10-11 11-3 in 69 minutes to deny the Englishman the chance of topping next year’s world rankings after reaching world number two this month.

Meanwhile British Open champion Ricketts defeated England’s Peter Nicol 11-10 11-5 11-1 in just 26 minutes.

Peter Nicol falls short against Anthony Ricketts - Photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

RESULTS:        Saudi International Squash Championship, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Quarter-finals:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [8] James Willstrop (ENG)            11-8, 11-6, 10-11 (1-3), 11-3 (69m)
[3] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [7] Peter Nicol (ENG)               11-10 (2-0), 11-5, 11-1 (26m)
[11] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [5] Lee Beachill (ENG)                  9-11, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (85m)
[2] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [10] Karim Darwish (EGY)           7-11, 11-7, 11-3, 9-11, 11-4 (67m)