SquashTalk>Columns>Team Kneipp > Qatar Classic 2005 > Report Card

Willstrop held off Anthony Ricketts .  Photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

The silly season's first major has finished. Here are our opinions on who was a star and who was stifled (relative to their seeding of course).

Champagne and Strawberries:
James Willstrop
Obviously. This isn’t his first major title. He won last year’s Pakistan Open, but that feats wanes in comparison with this event because Qatar is much bigger and unlike the 2004 Pakistan Open the top players (Lincou, Nicol, Beachill and White) are present. Willstrop cruised through the field in a manner that only Jonathan Power and White at the top of his game are usually capable of doing. Only dropping one game against opponents like Parke, Matthew, Gough, Ricketts and Palmer is spectacular.

David Palmer
Palmer was seeded 3 for this tournament, so making the final is not such an unexpected feat, but for the three tournaments he played to start the season off (English, St Louis and British Open) he had fairly ordinary results. He has obviously timed his training perfectly as shown by his final appearance at the US Open and now Qatar.

Alex Gough

Bianchetti (l) and Gough had good tourneys.  Photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

Giving hope to us old-timers and joining Walker and Parke in the exclusive club of 35 year old war horses. He first had to qualify, then he beat Beachill in straight games, then fellow qualifier Bianchetti before falling to Willstrop in the quarters. A great tournament.

Davide Bianchetti
Bianchetti’s first round upset of Shahid Zaman after qualifying says more about the inconsistency of Shahid, but it’s very important for a player to take advantage of a fortunate draw when it comes your way. Davide did this well.

Ong Beng hee
His first round upset of Graham Ryding was another step towards his return to the top 10.

Gregory Gaultier
Defeated Amr Shabana in the second round and very nearly beat Palmer in the quarters. A bit more concentration, intensity or fitness at the end of these matches will get him across the line.

Stewart Boswell
We’re going to be able to stop referring to him as a qualifier as he’ll be back in the top 20 after this tournament. He defeated Iskandar and then Power on the way to a quarterfinal appearance, but was thrashed by Ricketts who obviously knows his game better than anyone and was able to exploit his big tournament inexperience.

Vinegar and Rotten Tomatoes:

Lee Beachill
Lost in the first round to Alex Gough. At the moment Beachill tends to either have a spectacular tournament or a spectacularly bad tournament, his motivation and hunger being the deciding factor.

Peter Nicol
Lost in the 2nd round to John White. The significance of this 2nd round defeat is more about White and Nicol’s ranking than whether Nicol played bad squash. Normally these two wouldn’t meet until the semi finals and it’s never a huge surprise when one beats the other. Nicol making the second round of a big tournament isn’t a good result for him, but losing to John White doesn’t mean much.

Graham Ryding, Amr Shabana, Shahid Zaman and Jonathon Power All lost early against the seeding.

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