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Squash News July 1, 2001, Perth
By Elspeth Burnside
All content © 2001 Squashtalk, file photos:
© 2001 Fritz Borchert, Debra Tessier
Peter Nicol proved he is back at the top of the squash world with a comprehensive
victory in the Scottish Open at Bell's Sports Centre in Perth.
Making his first appearance in Scotland since defecting to England three months ago, the Inverurie-born 28-year-old completed a great championship with a comprehensive 15-6 15-10 15-9 win over Australia's Stewart Boswell.
Nicol, who is now set to recapture the world's no 1 ranking from Canada's Jonathon Power, romped through the four matches without dropping a game and, after a few months of up and down results, he is now convinced he is back to he form that saw him rule the game until he suffered a leg injury last October.
"My game improved in every match and I am absolutely delighted," said Nicol. "I'll now go straight into summer training and I'm already looking forward to the start of next season, and the Hong Kong Open in the middle of August."
As for his return to Scotland, he had mixed feelings. "I'm quite please it's over," admitted Nicol, who was given a huge ovation at the end. "I don't feel relieved, but I do feel a little flat. But I still have no doubts that I made the right decision."
He made the switch so that he can benefit from what he insists is the far superior back-up facilities available such as coaching, video analysis and sports science expertise that is available to English players. However, it was his father, Pat, who was his anchor in Perth.
"My coach, Neil Harvey, is in America, but I also thought it wasn't the best idea to bring a lot of English faces up here," he said. As to the final, it lasted just under one hour and was mostly one way traffic. There was just a short spell in the second game, when he came back from 1-7 to lead 8-7, that Boswell had a glimmer of hope that he could sustain his giant-killing week.
The
qualifier had knocked out three seeds, including Scotland's world no 8, Martin
Heath, on his way to a first major final, but he never really threatened to
add the title to the Scottish Junior Open he won in Edinburgh a few years
ago.
"Stewart slowed it down in the middle of the second game and I just stopped," explained Nicol. "He then played two points with a broken racket which was a bit strange. Then in the third I could tell he was really tired."
In the final of the Ladies' World Champion Challenge, England's Cassie Campion, on her way back after a back operation, score a surprise 5-9 9-3 9-5 win over the recently-crowned British Open Champion from Australia, Sarah Fitz-Gerald.
Results: Scottish Open:
P Nicol (England) beat S Boswell (Australia) 15-6 15-10 15-9;
Ladies World Champion Challenge:
C Campion (England) beat S Firz-Gerald (Australia) 5-9 9-3 9-5
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