SquashTalk>Columns>Team Kneipp > Saudi Open 2005 > Preview (Top Half)

Top Half of the Draw Preview
And then there was one. We’ve had the Qatar Classic, the World Open, the World Team Championships, and now the final Super Series event to cap off the silly season - the Saudi International. One more frantic tournament and then most players have time to get home to a normal life over Christmas.

So here’s a quick look at how the first round of the last major tournament of 2005 unfolds.

1* THIERRY LINCOU {FRA} v.JOSEPH KNEIPP {AUS}
Lincou finishes the year where he started - ranked #1. That’s not to say he’ll have the same ranking in two week’s time to start the new year. His results in Qatar and Hong Kong have been solid. He lost to Palmer in the semis of Qatar and Nicol in the quarters in Hong Kong. These are solid results, but if Willstrop or Palmer make a final appearance here and Lincou doesn’t his ranking buffer is going to quickly dwindle.

Kneipp has been consistent. 1st round loss to Power in Qatar. 1st round loss to Beachill in Hong Kong. If this tournament’s seeding was done this month I would have had to qualify for the first time since January 2002 by the time the local wildcard kicked out the person ranked 24th (me). If I don’t start winning matches that’s going to happen soon anyway, and if you’re going to beat anyone it might as well be the top guy.

Lincou leads our head to heads 5-1. Hmm.

12* GREGORY GAULTIER {FRA} v. {Q1} Stewart Boswell
Gaultier gets the pleasure of taking on the super qualifier. He lost to Palmer in the quarters in Qatar in a marathon five setter and had a similar battle in the second round in Hong Kong before losing to Lincou. He was taken to hospital in Pakistan with an illness but was better the next day.

Boswell took out Iskandar and Power in Qatar, and Ryding in Hong Kong. This should be a very interesting match, particularly as the last time they played it was after Boswell had taken a small break from injury in 2003, but tried to play a major. His opponent was Gaultier who beat him in five. This was the beginning of Boswell’s extended injury break. If Gaultier expects a similar match he’ll be in for a nasty surprise.

Gaultier couldn’t have a more unfavourable draw. He’s getting closer and closer to beating Lincou, but still hasn’t done it. To have to get past Boswell before that can happen makes the task even more daunting.

8* JAMES WILLSTROP {ENG} v.{Q2} Renan Lavigne

Willstrop will go into this tournament brimming with confidence. December has been a very nice month for him. He won the first tournament, lost in the semis of the second tournament and beat the new World Champion to help England win the third tournament. Great preparation for the fourth tournament (psychologically at least, as long as it isn’t too physically draining which I seriously doubt).

His opponent Renan Lavigne from France lost in the qualifying tournament in Qatar and the first round in Hong Kong. Lavigne can play great squash and is a real fighter, but this would be one of the biggest upsets of the year if he moves into the second round. When he played Willstrop in Hong Kong last year he wasn’t able to get a game.

16* SHAHID ZAMAN {PAK}v.{Q3} Rodney Durbach
Shahid made the first round in Qatar and the 2nd round in Hong Kong. His opponent lost both tournaments in the qualifying stage. That should mean that the result of this match is pretty clear, but that’s not the case. This could go either way and as they haven’t played each other before in PSA they won’t know what to expect.

This quarter’s Quarters:
Willstrop should have a smooth run through to the quarters, unless he partied too hard in Islamabad of course (that sentence just sounds wrong).

Lincou’s run isn’t as easy, but he’ll be hoping that Gaultier and Boswell beat up on each other enough to make his second round task easier.

3* ANTHONY RICKETTS {AUS} v.{Q4} Ramy Ashour
Ricketts made the semis in Qatar and the quarters in Hong Kong, where he lost to eventual winner Palmer in a five set battle where it came down to a couple of points. The World Open was one of his major goals for 2005 (other goals like TOC and the British Open were very well achieved thank you very much), so he was very disappointed with how Hong Kong finished up. Coupled with our result in Pakistan it will be interesting to see if this fuels his squash fire in Saudi Arabia.

The next poor kangaroo in the headlights of Ricketts will be junior star Ramy Ashour. He managed to qualify in Hong Kong but was impressively brushed aside by Gaultier. He’ll have his work cut out for him making sure Ricketts doesn’t do the same thing. This is their first match together.

13* GRAHAM RYDING {CAN} v.{Q5} Joey Barrington
Ryding will be very glad to see a normal looking draw in front of him. One where the seeded player has an obvious advantage and is expected to win.

Ryding had Bengy in Qatar, a player who used to be World Junior Champion, used to be ranked 7 in the world and is getting his game back to the top after technique and coaching problems. No one was really surprised that Graham lost that match in the first round (just as no one would have been really surprised if Graham had won that). Ryding had Boswell in Hong Kong, a player who used to be World Junior Runner up, used to be ranked 4 in the world and is getting his game back to the top after injury. No one was really surprised that Graham lost that in the first round, but would have been surprised if he won it considering Boswell’s recent form. So now he’s got a player who wasn’t the best or second best in the world as a junior and hasn’t cracked the top 30 yet. He’ll be relieved.

That’s not to say it won’t be tough. Barrington thrives on long matches and will be hoping the match is played on a panel court, with no air conditioning, an open roof, a 19 inch tin, a blue dot ball, camels roaming near the back wall (don’t know why) and a lot of long rallies and lets.

Ryding will try to finish it as fast as he can. The only time these two played was in Canada last year. Ryding won in four.

7* PETER NICOL {ENG} v.ADRIAN GRANT {ENG}
Nicol lost in the first round in Qatar to White and the semis in Hong Kong to Shabana. Both of these players are great shotmakers. Grant can certainly hit great shots, but he tends to be more of an attritional player. It almost never works to beat Nicol at Nicol’s game (have a look at Thierry’s record against him). One of Grant’s two first round losses in December came at the hands of Nicol. Although he beat him last year, and has the advantage of rest from not attending the men’s teams, he’ll have an uphill battle causing an upset here.

9* JOHN WHITE {SCO} v.PETER BARKER {ENG}
In Qatar White had a tough draw and great matches. He squeezed past Peter Nicol in the second round by three points in the fifth set, only to have Thierry Lincou return the favour (but to two points) in the quarterfinals.

He has a similar scenario here. Get past Barker to meet Nicol to face Ricketts instead of Lincou. No worries. Whitey’s results in the tournaments so far (quarterfinal and second round) have been exactly what is expected of his seeding. For a player looking to get back to #1 again this doesn’t get the job done. He’ll be expecting a much longer tournament here. Keep your eye on him.

His first round opponent is Peter Barker. He lost to Gaultier in Qatar and Ricketts in Hong Kong, both in the first round. He has played White twice
(’03 and ’04) and got a game off him the second time.

This quarters Quarters:
Scheduled second round matches of White and Nicol are always exciting. It will be very surprising if Ricketts doesn’t make it through to the quarters, but the unknown factor is obviously Ryding. Flip a coin as to whether it’ll be Nicol or White joining the last eight (I hope Barker or Grant make me eat my words).

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