Kneipp Rises to Occasion
By Colin McQuillan
May 12, 2004 All content © 2004 Squashtalk
[last update was 13-may-04 ]

Lee Beachill faded fast against a surging Joe Kneipp (photo © 2004 Fritz Borchert)

Canada’s Jonathon Power, the defending champion, left the showcourt of the Brit Insurance Super Series Squash Finals at the Broadgate Arena in London last night with damaged ligaments after turning his left ankle chasing a drop shot at 5-10 in the third game against England’s Peter Nicol in the dead rubber play-off for third place in the Harrrow Qualifying Group, Power was taken off to hospital on crutches for precautionary x-rays, unable to take any further part in the tournament. His left ankle was swollen to twice its normal size by the time he left the arena. Nicol won the match 2-1 - his only victory of this year's finals - to take third place in the Harrow group.

" I just want to go home," said Jonathon Power after spraining his ankle (photo © 2004 Fritz Borchert)

“I just want to get home,” said Power, who was called in at the last minute after the withdrawal of Australia’s Anthony Ricketts and after he had himself withdrawn from the Canadian National Championships with a strained gluteus maximus. “I am so fed up with this. I can hardly step on court without getting injured. At least I have the summer to recover.”

England’s Nick Matthew will face the top seeded Frenchman, Thierry Lincou, in Thursday’s second semi-final after losing in the last Harrow Group qualifying match 9-11 11-3 11-5 11-5 in 45 minutes to Scotland’s second seeded John White
White, who has won both the British National Championship and the English Open this season, has looked in good enough shape this week to add a first Super Series Finals win to the domestic haul he has managed since moving his base to Nottingham.

QUEENSLAND CLOSED
His own semi-final, however, has shaped up to be more of a Queensland Closed since his opponent is Joe Kneipp, the laconic Amsterdam based sixth seed who was born in Tolga, in the Atherton Tablelands just three hours drive North of White’s own Queensland hometown of Alligator Creek. Kneipp tonight defeated England’s much fancied Lee Beachill 11-2 11-7 11-8 in 36 minutes to take the second semi-final place from the Fleet Group.

Matthew, a Sheffield 23-year-old who will have been forced to face four players in a row this week who have recently held World No1 ranking, defeated Jonathon Power of Canada and Peter Nicol of England on his way to the semi-finals but just could not raise the speed of reaction to deal with White’s fearsome pressure tactics.

The lanky adopted Scot might have been designed to play the new PSA 11 point scoring system in use for the first time at Broadgate. By the time his opponents have adjusted to the power and speed of his shotmaking, they are too far behind in the shortened games to realistically attach themselves to the competition again.

Amr Shabana got satisfaction from his win over Thierry Lincou (photo © 2004 Fritz Borchert)

Lincou too was beaten in the last qualifying round at the Broadgate Arena tonight, 11-9 9-11 11-10 11-5 by Amr Shabana, the Egyptian World Champion, who had already lost the chance of a place in the semi-finals but was determined to leave the London crowd with a good impression of himself.

Limited by shin splints and bruised heels, Shabana was moving stiffly but, when he reached the ball, he produced a range of shots good enough to delight the audience and to stifle the ambition of an opponent already through to the later stages of the event at the top of the Fleet Group and anxious to save his firepower for Matthew tomorrow.

Shabana is the first in a long line of distinguished Egyptian players to have lifted the world crown, which he won beating Lincou 15-14 9-15 15-11 15-7 in Lahore last December on the day the Frenchman became the first of his nationality to become World No1 and spent most of the preceding 24 hours giving telephone interviews to French journalists. With more at stake, this might have become a mighty battle for revenge.

Hitting long deceptive drop shots, surprise angles and high hovering lobs on either hand, the left-handed Egyptian took the first and third games from 6-8 down, then ran through then fourth in just four hands.

“I wanted to do well here for the London fans but now I will have to come back next year to win when I don’t have injuries to worry about,” Shabana said. “But most of the people here have not seen me play so I wanted to show them something to make them welcome me back again.”

KNEIPP, WITH A VENGANCE
Kniepp, who lost in four games to Lincou in the first qualifying round, returned to the fray with a vengeance tonight, beating Beachill, the World No4, 11-2 11-7 11-8 in 36 minutes to take the second semi-final place from the Fleet Group.
“It has just got better for me day on day,” Kniepp said. “I suppose we have to take into account the fact that he has hardly slept since his first son appeared five days ago, but I felt sharp tonight and most of what I tried seemed to work pretty well. I could even fancy a place in the final on this form.”

Beachill’s week at Broadgate has been almost a reverse of Kniepp’s. He started well against Shabana on the first day and played with real verve until two games and 7-2 up against Lincou in the second round. But the energy reserves noticeably expired at that point and last night it was plain they had not been restored.

Brit Insurance Super Series Squash Finals [complete draw/results]
Broadgate Arena, London

Third Qualifying Round Results

Fleet Group
[5] Amr Shabana (Egy bt [1] Thierry Lincou (Fra) 11-9, 9-11, 11-10 (4-2), 11-5 (45m)
[6] Joe Kneipp (Aus) bt [4] Lee Beachill (Eng) 11-2, 11-7, 11-8 (36m)

Harrow Group
[2] John White (Scot) bt [7] Nick Matthew (Eng) 9-11 11-3 11-5 11-5 (45m)
[3] Peter Nicol (Eng) bt [8] Jonathon Power (Can) 11-8 7-11 11-5 ret inj (24m)

Special Offer! Get the SuperSeries Videos 2003, 02, 00 produced by Jean De Lierre including the great '03 Nicol-Power match.