Palmer and Power take their places in the semis

by Martin Bronstein
All content © 2002 Squashtalk

Thurs Dec 12

Martin Heath's (r) great racquet skills were ineffective against David Palmer (photo © 2002 Fritz Borchert)

Heath’s defeat is a little disappointing; he is capable of great squash and can be a fearless shotmaker; if he thinks a shot is on he will go for it. But he was facing a very determined Palmer who has everything in his favour. He is the home town favourite, being based in Antwerp, he is playing the best squash of his life and he is controlling most of his temper demons. He has been world number one, he has won the British Open and he has beaten everybody on the circuit. The one major title he has not claimed is that of world champion, and he fully intends to end this week with those magic words after his name.

In this mood he is unstoppable and Martin Heath was frank in his summation of the 46 minutes match, which he lost 9, 11 and 10.

"David played pretty faultless squash, but I think the score flattered him. I just never really got started," said a disappointed Heath. "David's a big guy and you have to get him off the tee or he'll dominate you, and it felt like I only got him out of position once or twice during the whole match.”
I’ve seen Palmer in that ‘nothing shall pass’ mode and it is simply demoralising for his opponents. He admitted that he was relieved to get past Heath.
"Martin's got great racket skills, so I was trying to keep him behind me as much as possible. We’ve been training all year for this title, but there are still two hard matches to go,” Palmer said, inferring that he will be beating Jonathon Power in the semis. And the way Power played against Thierry Lincou in their semi-final, Palmer may find it easier than he thinks. Even Power himself had a low opinion of his 53 minute, 3/0 win over the French Champion (8,14 and 8).

Thierry Lincou (f) couldn't stay with Jonathon Power (photo © 2002 Fritz Borchert)

A 'poor' Power still managed to dominate the third, again taking a huge early advantage which killed off the match despite Lincou pegging a few points back towards the end.
"I'm just glad that Thierry played poorly," said Power. "It was his big chance, and I think he was just nervous and overeager. He seemed to tire in the third, which must have been down to nerves as he's very fit."

As for his prospects for the rest of the tournament - "I can't play like that again if I want to go any further, that's guaranteed," he said, in his usual straight talking style.

Their semi-final will be the one with the fireworks, that’s guaranteed. If Palmer starts popping his cork and Power gets in to his oratory style of play, it’s going to need a very strong referee to control them and a very brave one to start handing out the penalty strokes.

We should not make the mistake of forecasting tomorrow’s outcome on today’s form because tomorrow is another day, and they both start with a clean sheet. My bet is that will go to five games and the winner? I’ll sit this one out.

[3] David Palmer (Aus) bt [11] Martin Heath (Sco) 15/9, 15/11, 15/10 (46m)
[2] Jonathon Power (Can) bt [6] Thierry Lincou (Fra) 15/8, 15/14, 15/8 (53m)