Nicol cruise, Heath falters
BEACHILL UNCOMFORTABLE IN FIRST MATCH   

By Martin Bronstein © 2003; all rights of reproduction reserved.
May 12, 2003 

NICOL STILL ALIVE AFTER DEAD BALL.

In conditions that could be described as slightly above sub-arctic, the Brit Insurance 2003 Super Series Finals got under way as intermittent rain and a bone-chilling wind swept through the white marquee that surrounds the ABS glass court. It was little wonder that the first two matches lacked any excitement or atmosphere.

Nicol and Beachill battle the weather, photo © 2003 Fritz Borchert for Squashtalk

The meeting of Peter Nicol and Lee Beachill was a curious affair in that at times it appeared that they would have preferred to have been elsewhere doing something else.

The first two games were not of the highest quality and the rallies a little ragged. With a cold ball they both found it difficult to get decent length, and the sort of errors that came off both players’ rackets, well, you just didn’t expect them from players of this calibre.

Although Beachill, playing his first match without the ankle brace which has been necessary since his surgery two months ago, made a minor comeback from 6-10 down, there was never a chance that he would take the first game and Nicol won it 15-11 after 12 far-from-gripping minutes.

THE TWO- GAME BALL
Nicol won the second in about the same time even though he was never more than three points ahead and although Beachill always threatened to finally get into a groove, he failed to get the upper hand and Nicol took the game 15-12. This looked like another Nicol walk-through until Beachill took a 5-1 lead in the third. It was then that Nicol appeared to lose interest. He denied this later saying the ball went ‘unbelievably dead’ and he simply could not hit length. No matter how hard they hit the ball , it hit the front wall like soft balloon and bounced around the mid-court area.

Beachill jumped on the short balls and pushed his lead to 11-4 as Nicol hit some atrocious shots and just hung back , watching as Beachill killed the ball. Nicol made an effort to get back into the match and got to eight but he was never going to win the game. One observer, witnessing Nicol’s performance, thought he surely must be ill to play this badly. The fourth game was even worse and Beachill ran to a 15-5 decision in under eight minutes to tie the match.

BACK TO THE HACK
Nicol realised that he had to go back to basics and simply hacked everything tight to the back corners. It paid off and finally we got a little involved in the battle ; Nicol led 8-2, Beachill came back to 6-8 and killed his own run with an error on an overhead drop. Nicol was back in and never allowed Beachill to get close as he ran out a 15-7 winner after 63 minutes of not very inspiring squash.

Heath lost the momentum in his battle with Lincou, photo © 2003 Fritz Borchert for Squashtalk

Martin Heath, who is ranked 15, was happy to be in the tournament as a sub for the ailing David Palmer, and showed that he was not going to lie down for Thierry Lincou, ranked nine places above him. Heath went on the attack from the beginning and once he had found his touch recovered from 4-7 to lead 10-7. Lincou did not want to work for his points and went short too soon – at one point making four errors in a row. Heath reminded us all what a fine man he is with the racket and how well he reads the game. He maintained his mastery the T and all Lincou could do was react to Heath’s game and run to the back corners to retrieve. He quite rightly won the first game 15-10 but could not sustain his tactical superiority as Lincou buckled down to playing his game of precision squash: tight and finely-weighted length shots that soon had Heath in the corners. Lincou won that second game 15-10 to tie the match but more importantly, he had played himself in.

But then he allowed himself to be sucked into Heath’s front court game and a hit a series of errors to virtually give Heath a 10-6 lead. A backhand drop, a nice disguise sent Heath the wrong way, a stroke and an error from Heath, had Lincou back in the game at 10-10.

When Heath led 13-11, the pressure was on Lincou, but Heath still went for a winner and his error put Lincou back in the frame again. Heath had a shouting fit at 13-all when he felt a decision had been wrong and it was predictable that Lincou would take the next two points to win the 20 minute game.

It was just as predictable that Heath would not stay with the Frenchman and the rallies rattled by quickly as Lincou notched up the fourth game 15-6 in just over eight minutes for the victory.

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2005. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2005 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.