RICKETTS TOO STEADY FOR NICOL

Ricketts stayed focused to defeat Nicol. (photo © 2006 Fritz Borchert.)

Anthony Ricketts, playing intense and focused squash (as usual) was just enough better than Peter Nicol tonight to win in four games.

The match was in essence an elimination match, with the loser having no chance to advance to the medal round.

Hopes of finishing an extraordinary season with a flourish at the Brit Insurance Super Series Finals thus took a fatal blow for the Commonwealth Games Champion Peter Nicol in the first match at Broadgate Arena in London tonight when, having already lost his Monday match in the Harrow qualifying group to James Willstrop, he fought his way into two tiebreaks against Australia’s Anthony Ricketts only to allow both to slip away as he lost 9-11 11-10(3-1) 11-10(4-2) 11-5  in 68 minutes.

NICOL SWANSONG
In 11 years, Nicol took three titles here and played a full role in many other sensations.  But he admitted himself tonight that, without a single match win from the last two years, he was starting to hate the event he used to enjoy more than any other.

So it was Peter Nicol, playing in probably his final Superseries Event, who was eleminated, exiting the event that he has shone in so many time, with a whimper and not a bang.

Nicol seemed to enjoy the early part of tonight’s match, sweeping through the opening game and recovering from 3-8 down in the second to reach 11-11 in the tiebreak before falling slightly out of the last two rallies. Even in the third game, while the Australian was grouching characteristically away at the referees, Nicol was hunting the ball and inventing well in the rallies as he led throughout and took game ball at 10-8. But the famous Nicol tenacity faded as Ricketts extended the final rallies and continued to strike the ball with genuine aggression. By the end the Australian points were coming from good working drives rather that great creativity.

“Whoever won that third game was probably going to take the match,” Ricketts said. “I am completely shattered now, I know that.” Nicol could hardly raise a comment in response.

WILLSTROP LOSS SETS UP WEDNESDAY SHOWDOWN WITH RICKETTS
With Willstrop  going down 11-3 10-11(1-3) 11-4 11-9 in 55 minutes to his Pontefract training partner, Lee Beachill, further interest in the Harrow group is strictly academic for the 33-year-old Nicol, who was said at the start of the event to have been in pursuit of the four win record of Jansher Khan.

Willstrop has been showing the effects of a long hard season of late and, although the Pontefract battles rarely fail to entertain, it was pretty plain from early on that tonight was not going to be the occasion for the 22-year-old to overturn the 28-year-old Yorkshireman for the first time. The youngster led throughout the second game, but he only just managed to clinch the tiebreak and was not really in a winning position for the rest of what was nonetheless a crowd-pleaser of a match.

Tomorrow’s big match therefore most likely will be the clash between Ricketts and Willstrop to decide who joins Beachill in the semi-finals. It is hard to see Nicol raising the pain barrier to frustrate Beachill in the last qualifying round.

Lee Beachill roared into the medal round with a strong win over James Willstrop. (photo © 2006 Fritz Borchert.)

 

PALMER EXITS
The Fleet qualifying group later developed even more astonishingly as David Palmer, the top seeded World No2 from Australia was beaten 10-11(02) 11-6 11-10 11-8 in precisely one hour by Amr Shabana, the World Champion from Egypt. More surprisingly defeated in the first qualifying round by Nick Matthew, the British National Champion, The loss tonight effectively ended Palmer's campaign for the Superseries title this year. Palmer lost to Jonathon Power in the Semi-Final round last year and won the event in 2002.

Shabana opened fast and led his opening game against Palmer 5-0 and was first to game ball on 10-9, only to conceded a penalty stroke and see the mighty Australian crash through the last three rallies with such force  that all Shabana’s counterstrokes ended in the tin. He recovered with a nine minute varied attack in the second game that levelled matters and set the scene for third game battle only settled when Palmer’s own sights dropped into the danger zone in the vital tiebreak rallies.

Shabana was in complete command for the first half of the fourth game but at 6-2 he suddenly began to pepper the tin and only recovered his venom after the referee, Dean Clayton, reversed his call to convert what had seemed a brilliant low killing drop shot into a let. In answer Shabana hit one of the finest forehand rail shots of his career to take 7-6, reaching high above his head and striking the ball ferociously down the wall to a perfect dying length.

Almost as a compensation payment for such audacity, he lost the next two rallies on tinned forehands, first a greedy volley and then an impossible reach, but he took 8-8 with another perfect overhead forehand kill and almost cruised to victory from there thanks to a brace of penalty stroke decisions from Clayton that, while seemingly just in their evaluation, left the World No2 waving back the presenters in an attempt to keep the match in play.

“I’m disappointed, I’ve been here five or six years now and this is the first time I haven’t qualified for the last four,” Palmer said.

“I was clearly disadvantaged making the Lierpool final last week, it was going to be impossible for anyone to win through the Liverpool week and win everything here. It's impossible to win ten matches in ten days, I’m not Superman."

SHABANA CLOSE TO CLINCHING MEDAL ROUND POSITION
Amr Shabana, thus continuing the confident and inspired play that has brought him to world #1 and kept him there this spring, moved strongly towards his semifinal position.

“This was a killer pool.” Shabana acknowledged after the match. “I think it must be the strongest pool ever at the Super  Series. “I am so pleased to have started winning at last in this event. I am here with my new wife, so I hope I can win on Friday for her.”

If you want to talk about killer pools. However, you might have to bring Lincou into the discussion. He nearly burst blood vessels narrowly failing to contain Shabana on Monday and tonight he was grunting, almost squealing, with high pitched and painful effort as he kept Matthew at bay, just.

After three battling games, with unremitting tiebreaks at the end of two, Matthew was still forcing the pace, spreading the play and extending the rallies to find a chink in the extraordinary determination of the Frenchman. following a fierce battle through the Liverpool08 Open last week, he play 83 minutes against Palmer in the final at St George’s Hall, travelled to London to find the ambitious Shabana awaiting him for another hour of high speed play, and then tonight’s 65 minutes to deal with Matthew 11-10(2-0) 11-9 10-11(0-2) 11-5.

“I do not know what day it is really,” he said after tonight’s effort. “I go to the hotel, fall into bed, wake up tomorrow and come back to keep trying. I am hurting, but it is the last big tournament of the season so it worth the effort.”

That effort might by ideally summarized by the last five points of tonight’s match. After Matthew had thrown the kitchen sink into the match, Lincou simply refused to relinquish another rally. He hit a winning drive, a perfect backhand drop at the end of  of a huge retrieving exchange, a forehand drop into front court space and a nicely judged drive into space in the deep lefthand corner. Matthew then obliged on matchball with a tired forehand into the tin.

“It was a good match but I had too many bad patches in the first two games,” said Matthew. “He is too good for you to have any bad patches. I gave him the openings and he took them and from then on it was a long way back.”

LINCOU WIN KEEPS HIM IN CONTENTION WITH MATTHEW
Thierry Lincou and Nick Matthew now both stand 1-1 in their pool matches. Lincou faces Palmer tomorrow, in which Palmer will both have the opportunity for revenge for his missed chance in Liverpool last weekend, as well as to act the role of the spoiler. Meanwhile, Shabana will face Nick Matthew. Out of those matchups, either Matthew or Lincou will advance together with Shabana to the semifinal round on Thursday (though there is one scenario which has Shabana losing out on a tiebreaker count with Lincou and Matthew, if they each end at 2-1.

The Superseries Finals 08 contenders, with promoter Satinder Bajwa, prior to the competition. (photo © 2006 Fritz Borchert.)

Day Two Pool round results:

SUPER SERIES FINALS.
FIRST ROUND POOL RESULTS, DAY TWO [ Draw ]

FLEET GROUP
THIERRY LINCOU (FRA) BT NICK MATTHEW (ENG) 11-10(2-0) 11-9 10-11(0-2) 11-5
AMR SHABANA (EGY) BT DAVID PALMER (AUS) 10-11(0-2) 11-6 11-10(2-0) 11-8 (6o min)

HARROW GROUP
ANTHONY RICKETTS (AUS) BT PETER NICOL (ENG)9-11 11-10(3-1) 11-10(4-2) 11-5 (68 mins)
LEE BEACHILL (ENG) BT JAMES WILLSTROP (ENG) 11-3 10-11(1-3) 11-4 11-9 (55mins)