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High Tension in Vienna
Semi Final Impressions by Daniel Kneipp, Oct 24 2003

[last update was 24-oct-03 ] By Dan Kneipp All content © 2003 Squashtalk

Australia versus Egypt.
Joe Kneipp versus Mohammed Abbas
It was odd watching this. It was the first time that I’ve watched Joe play
and not sat in his corner. In theory it should have meant I was less nervous
– his matches always create a spinning-class like affect on my body because
of the adrenaline. It was actually worse than PSA because there was nothing
I could do and more at stake.

Joe Kneipp and Mo Abbas, © 2003 Fritz Borchert

Kneipp started out wonderfully. He was dominating all of the rallies and he
was obviously the less nervous and more determined of the two, at least at
this stage. He raced to a 6-1 head start, but then his momentum waned. Abbas
had made a lot of errors under the Kneipp pressure. He stopped making these
and starting trying different things to stop Kneipp running away with the
game. He managed to pull the game back to 6-7, using a very well disguised
volley boast that was very hard to see. Kneipp had been making mistakes
during this comeback, he stopped these and took the first game 9-7.

Kneipp was always ahead of the second. He was holding the T well and mixing
up his length game with nice winners going short. He maintained an early
lead and took the 2nd 9-4.

Abbas came out for the third more determined. This coincided quite well with
Kneipp losing his length and his rhythm. He was going short too often, and
not using length or pace when he needed to. From 3 all Abbas pulled away and
took the game 9-5.

At 4-4 in the fourth the Aussie bench looked worried. They didn’t want to go
into the 2nd rubber requiring 2 more victories. At the start of the match
Kneipp was happy to put Abbas under pressure and wait until he either made a
mistake, or a big opening presented itself for an easy winner. He started
doing this again at the end of the fourth and took the match 9-4.

I was hoping somehow to work ‘Kneipp gets hit by Abbas’ into this document
somehow. It didn’t work.

Palmer versus Darwish.

David Palmer and Karim Darwish, © 2003 Fritz Borchert

This was a great encounter. The pressure was on Darwish, but Palmer wasn’t
taking this match lightly or at anything less than top gear. At 3-3 in the
first game he dived for a ball, something that you normally don’t see until
the end of a match. The first game was 22 minutes 9-5 to Palmer.

Both of these players are very strong hitting short from the T. They both
love driving the ball to a good length, setting up the opponent’s weak
return then smacking it short into the nick, or hard and low cross court. It
makes for great squash. They both are also wonderful at hitting delicate
shots short, and picking up shots from the front. Darwish didn’t
particularly want to have exchanges at the front, so he kept simply putting
the ball in the nick. But he couldn’t do it enough and Palmer slowly pulled
himself away, eventually having game ball 8-2. Then he started trying to
volley balls that were hugging the wall, going for too much and dealing with
a rejuvenated Egyptian. Palmer had had one game ball,, but Darwish caught
him at 8-8, then a backhand drop winner left Palmer diving but unable to get
the ball up. To win the game Darwish hit a backhand drop nick from the back
of the court. One game all.

Darwish started the 3rd game with an error, then followed it up with a bunch
of nicks for handouts. Then the errors returned and Palmer found his length
that had gone missing for a while in the 2nd. At 6-4 to Palmer, Darwish got
racquet abuse for using the racquet to pick up the ball by bouncing it too
vigorously. Ridiculous. Palmer got to an 8-4 lead. Darwish had won the 2nd
game from this position, but he didn’t look like he had the energy this
time, and Palmer closed the game out comfortably.

Palmer raced to a huge lead in the fourth. It was a mixture of mistakes from
Darwish, but a lot of pressure from Palmer to cause them, and impressive
winners from the Aussie. He got to 8-2 and there were a series of handouts,
but the match and the final place was Australia’s.

France Stops England !

The best France has done in previous years at this tournament is fifth. They
are seeded third and expected to lose in the semis. When Nick Matthew won
the first rubber against Arcucci it was no huge surprise.

Lincou versus Nicol
Lincou then had the unenviable task of having to beat Nicol. He started out
well getting a game ball in the first, but he couldn’t take it and Nicol
went ahead one nil. Lincou made amends in the second game, taking it 9-4.
Then the real business started in the third. Nicol went to a 7-6 lead, and
it looked like he wasn’t showing any signs of fatigue from the previous
day’s tough matches. Lincou had a rough, tiring encounter against White the
previous day, so both players weren’t as fresh as daisies.

There was a French flag and an Allez France banner placed in front of the
French entourage against the back wall, obviously as extra motivation for
Lincou. In case this didn’t work his team kept screaming at him. Lincou
clawed his way back into the game using spectacular attacking shots from
extremely difficult defensive positions to win the third. If there was any
doubt of his commitment, his lion-like roar to the crowd, his team and into
Nicol’s face at the end of this game let his intentions be known.

Lee Beachill and Gregory Gaultier, © 2003 Fritz Borchert

Lincou had found a lot of wonderful nicks in the third, and he was able to
continue them in the fourth. Nicol was getting very tired. Lincou was doing
a great job of steadying himself for each shot, holding the ball, and then
sending Nicol the wrong way. He got to 8-0 without Nicol even winning a hand
out. At matchball Lincou’s nerve understandably gave way and Nicol was able
to get a couple of points, but the match and the vital second rubber went to
France.

Beachill versus Gaultier
I’m not sure who I would prefer in my corner if a place in the final of the
World Team Championships was at stake. Beachill is bloody solid, but a
young, confident Frenchman isn’t too bad either.

There was some great squash amongst this match, but some dreadful squash as
well. Not the racquet skills, but how it went. Gaultier was blocking at
every opportunity, and the ref and Beachill didn’t do anything about it. And
Gaultier went from playing wonderful squash, to putting in a lacklustre
performance if he was down or thought he had gotten a wrong call. He won the
first 9-4, being patient and hitting winners. It was superb squash. In the
second he got bothered by a few bad calls and was happy to simply swipe at
the ball and try stupid trick shots, and lost it 9-1. The third he decided
to play again, albeit with more blocks than a brick factory. I began to
wonder during this game if he had the temperament to put up with the
pressure and the bad decisions to win this match. He was staring down a game
ball 8-7 to England, and suddenly became unbelievably patient and happy to
keep playing length to Beachill’s backhand. Despite Beachill having four
game balls, it was France that won the crucial third 10-8. At 8-8 it was
easy to think that whoever took the next couple of points was going to take
the match in four. Not with Gaultier involved.

Something irked him in the fourth – a call, that a block was unsuccessful, I
don’t know. Gaultier spent most of this game trying to look good while being
bothered by refereeing calls, and doing trick shots and non-squash things.
You would think he was playing a practice match and wanted to be doing
something else.

The fourth only took Beachill eight minutes to win, and he continued the run
in the fifth, racing to a 7-1 lead. I kept looking around for a motherly
figure to tell Gaultier now was not the time to be bothered with
tantrum-like behaviour and erratic squash. In the previous game the French
entourage had been screaming at Lincou to keep him excited, now they were
all cooing calming advice and making ‘calm down’ gestures with their hands
to an unnecessarily temperamental Gaultier. Something worked. This was when
Gaultier decided he was going to play again. There was still a lot of
blocking. Slowly he went from down 1-7 to 7-7. Not in one hand, and not from
anything really bad that Beachill did. Because there was so much blocking
going on, the referee played a crucial part in this. Gaultier won the next
point, to bring up match ball 8-7, and the house nearly came down. There was
clearly more French fans in the building. Perhaps an inside-out back hand
drop under pressure isn’t the best shot to play when a World Team title
chance is at stake. But Gaultier tried it, unsuccessfully and lost his match
ball. A stroke took the score to 8-8 and naturally set 2. Gaultier got the
next point, then on his second match ball hit a forehand drive and blocked
Beachill out. The French team thought it was a no let and jumped up
screaming and celebrating. The ref correctly played a let. Beachill wasn’t
phased by all of this, or at having lost a substantial lead, and he was able
to win the hand out and serve at 8-9. Gaultier had had two match balls and
was unable to capitalise on either. So what did he do now Beachill was a
point away from match ball himself? He went for a nick off the serve and hit
the tin! Beachill had been hitting nicks off the serve all game. Gaultier
had been trying when he was annoyed by a reffing decision, but hadn’t been
getting them (he was getting them from all other parts of the court though).

Match ball to England. This point was disappointing. Gaultier played a
tight, but fairly bouncy drop shot to the backhand, then did his normal
block. Beachill was tired of trying to fruitlessly go around him and had
started going through. It was a simple let decision, but the ref decided no.
Both teams jumped up from their seats screaming. The French in ecstasy, the
English understandably bellowing at the ref. Gaultier didn’t need a fourth
match ball, and France took a spectacular final berth for tomorrow against
Australia. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the French players got injured
by the victory melee that ensued on court after their victory. Don’t expect
a story from me after tomorrow’s final. I’ll either be shouting the boys
victory beers, or chipping in for sorrow-drowning drinks.