Round Three - a Fine Day in Pakistan

by Dan Kneipp, Team Kneipp report index
All content © 2003 Squashtalk

Dec 18, 2003, Lahore, Pakistan --- [HH Third round report; complete results]

Officially we're playing this tournament in the "Islamic Republic of Pakistan." The capital is Islamabad, the head of state is President General Pervez Musharraf (who will be attending the final I believe) and the population is around 136 million, made up of 95% Muslims. The currency is the Pakistan Rupee, the national language is Urdu but I'm assured the official language is English. The national flower is jasmine.

Why am I writing this now? Because right now is a great time to be in Pakistan. Everything feels better after a good win. Here is how the 3rd round panned out.

Darwish - now meets Bianchetti photo © Deb Tessier

Karim Darwish (Egy) versus Olli Tuominen (Fin)
Darwish won the first two games fairly comfortably and made this match look like it was going to be over fairly quickly. Olli was struggling to read Darwish's flicks and kept getting sent the wrong way. He was also going for too much on his volleys short and kept making mistakes.

Things changed dramatically in the third. From the first rally Olli took control and maintained it comfortably. Darwish had done a lot of work and he was showing fatigue and rested during this game. 15-5 to Olli in 13 minutes.

It was going to be interesting in the fourth to see if Darwish had rested sufficiently in the third and could close the match out. Olli is able to maintain an incredible intensity throughout his matches and there wasn't going to be any doubts about his fitness. The first rally of this game was great with Olli eventually picking up a backhand drop shot and driving it down the wall. Darwish was standing behind Olli waiting for the drive, but didn't anticipate it to be hugging the wall. He asked for a let, expecting a stroke. I thought it should be no let. Olli immediately screamed out at the ref "No way! No let! I'm not in the way!." Then he quickly smothered his mouth with his hand mumbling, "Sorry. Sorry. I'll be quiet." Even the ref couldn't help laughing (and he appropriately gave no let).

Darwish hadn't just been resting in the 3rd game, he was genuinely very tired and again struggled to keep up with Olli's pace. He lost the fourth in similar fashion to the third, 15-7 in 15 minutes.

Unfortunately in the deciding set what had been a great match was marred by Darwish's blocking and a ref that wasn't aware of it. Olli was getting very frustrated with the situation, and quite often it was simple let situations where Darwish created contact and a naïve ref judged no let. Darwish won the game and the place in the quarter finals by five points,15-10, but there were a lot more than five bad decisions throughout the game that were determined by blocking and incorrect refereeing. It was a disappointing end to a great game of squash.

[7] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [21] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 15-8, 15-8, 5-15, 7-15, 15-10 (75m)

Thierry Lincou (Fra) versus Tommy Berden (Ned)
Lincou has established himself over the last couple of years because of his constant pressure and intensity. He isn't a player that will hit a lot of winners, but he will maintain constant pressure, track every ball down, volley everything he can from the T using his strong body and play text book squash. Although Lincou can play great squash at a high intensity, he is still more of a defensive player. Watch him compared to Palmer, White, Shabana etc and it is very obvious.

Lincou's opponent, Dutchman Tommy Berden is also a defensive player. Darwish and Olli had played some wonderful squash at an incredibly intense pace, so Lincou and Berden's match seemed like it was in slow motion in contrast. I haven't seen either bloke playing so nervously or tentatively before. They both seemed like they were thinking too much about the fact that a berth in the quarter finals of the World Open was at stake. Both players were padding the ball around, making more mistakes than usual and struggling to pick up balls that they would normally have gotten to easily. The rallies were short and riddled with errors.

I'm always hesitant saying a match is bad or that players have put in a bad performance so I sought opinions from others. When three players, the winner of the match, a reporter and the tournament director all say it was bad squash, then I can safely print it without feeling like I'm being mean.

Berden took the lead in each game but couldn't close any games out, going down in three. If Berden had played to his normal standard he would have won this match. During the 1st game Berden got a really bad stroke. It was a bad call and Berden yelled out (without any malice or directed aggression) "Absolutely not!" He got a conduct warning for this. During the game break Joe couldn't resist questioning the ref on what the hell that was about. The decision, and the ref's explanation for it made no sense.

Joe was convinced that Lincou's performance could only be explained by either a really bad injury or extreme nerves. I asked Thierry after the match if he was injured. He told me, "Yes. Badly injured in the head."

[4] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Tommy Berden (NED) 17-16, 15-13, 15-12 (44m)

Joe Kneipp (Aus) versus John White (Sco)
It's interesting how different players prefer playing different people. Most people hate playing John White. He's a nightmare to compete against. But we grew up in neighbouring cities to Whitey in Australia (Cairns and Townsville - four hours apart, neighbouring by Australian standards). They played each other in juniors, at the Australian Institute of Sport, in leagues and in PSA. Joe likes playing Whitey and was happy with the draw at this tournament. Very few people like playing Whitey.

It's usually very entertaining when these two play, but I think Joe is good at neutralising John's arsenal. Whitey didn't play his best squash today, but Joe had a particularly good match as the scoreline indicates.

[11] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) bt [2] John White (SCO) 15-11, 17-14, 15-3 (43m)

Amr Shabana (Egy) beat David Palmer (Aus)

Bianchetti - another timely upset photo © www.davidebianchetti.com

A lot has been said of Palmer's injury. His movement isn't 100%, but only under extreme duress is it obvious. He can play virtually to his normal standard if the rally isn't at top pace. Unfortunately it's hard to play Shabana without going at top pace. Palmer was able to make the quarterfinals of Qatar without being a hundred percent, but that was possible because of his awesome racquet skills that meant he didn't have to rally too much, instead going for winners. He made the mistake in the first game of rallying too much. Shabana went to a 9-6 lead and extended that to 15-10 win.

Palmer was struggling lunging into the forehand corners, playing off his right leg, but following through with his left leg to push off, instead of using his right leg. Palmer played with his injury in Qatar, but obviously had to protect it, not putting complete weight on the injury. This is the World Open. There is no reason to protect an injury. All of the players would happily spend the next six months on the sidelines with an injury if it meant winning this trophy.

Palmer seemed to realise the injury couldn't be protected, and that he had to go for his shots. He came out firing in the 2nd and it worked. If there was any doubt about Shabana's eagerness to win this match, diving at 0-0 in the 2nd was a good indication. Regardless of this effort Palmer won the game 15-8 in 15 minutes.

Shabana is normally a very cool and relaxed player. Palmer is usually very focussed and intense about winning, and both players benefit from there playing attitudes. Shabana was anything but relaxed during this match. He was unhappy with reffing decision and unusually intense on court. Palmer as the defending champion obviously had a lot to lose in the match and had no hesitation pointing out any things he disagreed with.

With so much at stake, and Palmer's restricted movement probably playing a part in greater physical contact, there were a lot of points determined by reffing decisions. Shabana wasn't happy with the decisions. Palmer was extremely unhappy with the decision. I agreed with some of their complaints, but not a lot of them. It would have been a nightmare of a match to try to adjudicate. Strokes were very common.

Shabana won the 3rd 15-5 in under ten minutes.

At 2-3 to Shabana in the 3rd Palmer argued another decision. He was told by the ref that he had to stop disputing everything. He promptly argued that and received a conduct stroke. This stopped the discourse between both players and the ref, but not points being decided by a bloke outside the court. Stroke 4-2. Stroke 4-3. Stroke 5-3. Stroke 5-5. No let 5-6. Stroke 7-6.

I think you get the point.

The score moved along with Shabana hitting a backhand drop shot that hugged the wall to take the score to 14-10. He had match ball against the World Champion David Palmer. No! He had four or five match balls! Surely he couldn?t blow this and miss out on a place in the quarter finals. Surely he couldn?t screw up probably the most important match of his life from such an important position. Unfortunately these thoughts, or something similar went through Shabana's mind and he self destructed.

Let's not take away from the squash brilliance of Palmer (injury-free no one is in his playing category at the moment). He faced match balls last year at the World Open and went on to win the trophy. He wasn't going to just lie down and hand this victory to Shabana. He played sensible, intense squash and waited to see what his opponent would do. Make errors was what the Egyptian did.

Backhand lob out; 14-11 match ball.

Forehand drop shot tin; 14-12 match ball.

Backhand drop shot tin; 14-13 match ball

and finally another drop shot tin; 14-14.

Even a conservative player should call set 1 in this situation. It does give your opponent game ball, but most importantly it creates another match ball. In Qatar two weeks ago Shabana was down 2 games to love against Nicol, blew a 14-9 lead in the third, but still called set 1 despite it giving Nicol a match ball (Shabana slapped a cross court nick winner off the serve). For some bloody strange reason he called set 3 here. Palmer would have been very glad at this decision and comfortably won the next three points to level the games.

After such a head explosion it was going to be interesting how Shabana was going to deal with the 5th. If he thought about his lost chance it would guarantee that he lost. He came out firing. There was some great squash, still a lot of points determined by the ref and a growing lead by Shabana. He went to a 9-2 lead when Palmer walked off court for an injury time out. Obviously he has a leg problem. The rules are that you can take a three minute time out for an injury provided it isn't an existing injury. The injury has to occur during the match. The ref wouldn't allow Palmer to take the break. This was a difficult situation. Palmer pointed out that there are three adductor muscles, that he pulled one prior to this tournament, and one right now. He questioned how the ref could determine the difference. Most opponents would be annoyed in this situation if the injured player was allowed a break. I don't doubt Palmer's word, but it is a difficult call for a ref. Palmer didn't get the break and Shabana closed the match out 15-2.

[9] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [3] David Palmer (AUS) 15-10, 8-15, 15-5, 14-17, 15-2 (68m)

Anthony Ricketts (Aus) versus Mohammed Abbas (Egy)
This was one of the most incredible drop shot hitting, lunging, counterdropping, frantic rally-fests I have ever seen. Abbas has an awesome backhand. It is strong and deceptive. He was shooting like crazy with his backhand drops. They didn't work at first and was a determining factor in why he lost the first game. But once they did start working the fireworks in this game started. Ricketts is incredibly hungry. He wants to win so badly. He will run and chase and hurt and push and scramble. It's an incredible attribute that you can't teach someone. So Abbas was shooting for winners, and Ricketts was picking everything up and counterdropping. Both of these boys can cover the court well and it meant for a ridiculous number of rallies that had breathtaking exchanges based around the front with both doing incredible counterdrops, flicks and smashes that the other guy would keep in play with incredible reflexes.

Ricketts won this match in four, but there wasn't much between the two. It was incredibly entertaining squash. They could have both played more length, but the exchanges at the front were a joy to watch.

[5] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [20] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 15-11, 15-13, 11-15, 15-8 (59m)

Davide Bianchetti (Ita) beat Gregory Gaultier (Fra)
This upset was great for one reason. It means that Bianchetti's victory over Peter Nicol will get the respect it deserves. Sure Bianchetti himself has said that Nicol was playing below his normal impeccable standard, but Bianchetti must have been playing great squash to take advantage of the situation, and continue the good form to beat Gaultier.

[30] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt [10] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 15-12, 15-14, 5-15, 5-15, 15-7 (105m)

Lee Beachill was too strong for an error-prone Taylor and Nick Matthew continued his incredible month that will see his ranking go from mid 20s in December to about 11 or better for January.

[8] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [23] Nick Taylor (ENG) 15-7, 15-7, 15-6 (30m)

[19] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [25] Renan Lavigne (FRA) 15-11, 15-8, 15-13 (46m)

We now have two Australians (Ricketts and Kneipp), two Egyptian (Shabana and Darwish), two Englishmen (Beachill and Matthew), an Italian and a Frenchman left fighting for the World Championship.