Power-Lincou - Rejoined
By Martin Brontein
May 9, 2005 All content © 2004 Squashtalk
[last update was 11-may-05 ]

LINCOU SHOOTS FOR REVENGE

Thierry Lincou was too sharp for Jonathon Power, fresh in from the Canadian Nationals. (photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert)

Thierry Lincou was probably still bruised from the last meeting with Jonathon Power in Bermuda when Power outlasted him in a five games over 90 minutes. From the start of their match which opened the 2005 Brit Super Series Finals, Lincou was on the attack, determined not be drawn into the sort of attritional squash that earned the Canadian the Masters title. Lincou was firing in shots at the slightest opening and trying his unique wrong way shots where he seems to look one way, shapes the same way and turns his racket at the last second to send the ball the other way. Lincou was in charge and Power was left to play the reactive role, a little slow it seemed.

Which was understandable - 24 hours earlier he had been in Toronto beating Shahier Razik for the Canadian national title. Which meant he got the overnight jet to London and on court before he could catch up on his sleep.

Lincou got to 8-4 on a stroke at which point the referee called ‘game ball’.

Let us go back to just before the match when I suggested to the marker that he might like to go over the scoring system for the benefit of the spectators. My suggestion was listened to but nothing was done.

Imagine my surprise when the marker called game ball at 8-4. Jonathon Power’s mouth fell open: “What are you doing? We’re playing to eleven,” he said. “No we’re playing to nine,” responded the marker. A new voice joined the debate, that of the referee. “No, we’re playing to eleven,” he said, barely able to conceal a smile at this most elementary of screw ups. If only they had listened to me at the beginning, this all would have been avoided.

Play resumed, Power got a couple more points on Lincou errors and the 12 minute game was over 11-6 in Lincou’s favour, the last two point coming from his winners.

In the second game Power’s jet lag seemed to fade away and he was putting a little more pressure on Lincou who attempted winners were now turning into losers. Lincou’s tight balls down the backhand wall were still Power problems but Lincou was unable to converts the weak replies into winners. In fact in the course of the game he made seven unforced errors against three for Power who was showing the same sort of patience that he had first exhibited in Bermuda. The body contact that had been such a feature of their last meetings was beginning to emerge again and with Power at game point 10-8 they played through six lets before Lincou finished the game with a backhand volley into the tin to give the game to Power 11-8. We had ourselves a fight and it looked like another five game battle.

In the third game Power was beginning to use his short game and went from 1-3 to 7-5 with the aid of four errors from Lincou. But there was another twist to come as Lincou attacked the back left corner, keeping his shots so tight to the wall that four times Power was unable to scrape the ball off the wall or dig it out of the corner. After the fourth, which gave Lincou the game, Power let out a bellow of rage at his errors - but in truth it was Lincou’s accuracy that had won the day and now led 2/1.

Power was in overdrive from the first ball and ran to a 4-0 lead before Lincou got on the scoreboard with a backhand low drive. This was followed by a backhand tight length and then Power was denied a let. Whether that upset him or not is hard to say but then he made three unforced errors to put Lincou at 6-4, a run of six points in a row. They fought through some long rallies, with Power as quick as ever and Lincou still looking for winners, his backhand drop still paying handsome dividends to get him to match ball at 10-6. Power moved up a gear, hit his perfect backhand deeply cut cross-court and followed it with a high backhand cross court into the nick to get to 8-10. They then played the longest rally of the match with some wonderful gets from both players but it was Power who took the point to get to within one point 9-10. Lincou hit a disguised drop in the next rally which made Power dive to get his racket on it, an incredible save but although he was on his fight quickly it wasn’t quick enough to pick up Lincou’s perfectly executed backhand drop, a winner all the way. Lincou had the match 3/1 after 73 minutes and the only way back for Power is to beat both Peter Nicol and Amr Shabana on consecutive days.

BEACHILL ALTERNATES HIS GAMES

Matthew knows Beachill's game but couldn't do much about it. (photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert)

The Harrow Group could well be called the Yorkshire Group comprising, as it does, Lee Beachill, Nick Matthew and James Willstrop with Aussie David Palmer the odd one out. Their group started off with Beachill and Willstrop producing an interesting see-saw match as Beachill changed his approach in trying to overcome the tough squash of Matthew. After winning the first game with apparent ease 11-4, Beachill decided to try and make Matthew work rather than exploit the front of the court. This was a mistake and from leading 6-5 Beachill found himself stuck in the back court as Matthew commandeered the T to win the second 11-9.

Beachill got a good start in the third and kept up the pressure easily take the third game11-6 and then found himself stranded in the back court in the fourth game as Matthew once again took charge of the T, slamming the ball to the back and refusing to let a ball get past him. It was a highly effective strategy which Beachill found difficult to disrupt. He managed to force extra points but Matthew would not let up on his volleying and won 12-10 to force the fifth game.

The fifth was a complete surprise; Beachill came out in a quite different frame of mind and started going for winners at the front from the start. He was unstoppable and Matthew looked as surprised as we were as the Beachill drops found the nick. This sudden change to a short game disarmed Matthew and within minutes Beachill was 8-1 up. There were a couple of rallies that went beyond six shots but Matthew decided that he was never going to catch Beachill and the last three points were hardly fought over with Beachill winning 11-2 to end the 65 minute match.

I asked Beachill why he was a completely different player in the fifth:
“It was cold and dead out there and I couldn’t play my normal game. When I got a good start in a game I won but in the second and fourth he started well and I made the mistake of trying to make him work rather than finish off the rally when I had the chance. In the fifth I chose to use the front of the court from the start and it seemed to surprise him,” was his explanation.

NICOL BEATS A LACKLUSTRE SHABANA

Peter Nicol had the measure of an on-and-off Amr Shabana tonight. (photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert)

If Amr Shabana had a little more determination he could have beaten Peter Nicol. The first game was a Shabana delight as he played as he only he can, mixing up fine, tight length with audacious winners. He was reading Nicol well and slamming home winners almost as soon as the ball had left Nicol’s racket. He won 11-8 in eleven minutes hitting six winners on the way.

He hit four winners in the second game but he also made five unforced errors. The interesting point was when he lead 4-3 and they had the first really long rally of the match - which Shabana won to put him 5-3 ahead. Encouraged he hit three of his winners - two of them long backhand drops to lead 8-5. But then Nicol hit a couple of fine shots; a backhand crosscourt to perfect width followed by a backhand volley drop to get to 7-8 - which is when three Shabana errors gave Nicol the game. Shabana has to learn when to play it hard, when to recognize the big points and make his opponents work for the winning points.

The fourth game was predictable - a Shabana specialty - all over in six minutes, 11-7 in Nicol’s favour with the help of six unforced errors from Shabana. Nicol must have been relieved at having to work for just 44 minutes. The sad thing is that Shabana is capable of playing far better than this - two years ago he was world champion. Maybe tomorrow he will try to make amends and put together a fighting performance rather than another let-down .

FLEET GROUP
Thierry lIncou (FRA) bt Jonathon Power (CAN) 11-6, 8-1ll, 11-7, 11-9. (73 mins)
Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Amr Shabana (EGY) 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 (44mins)

HARROW GROUP
Lee Beachill (ENG) bt Nick Matthew (ENG) 11-4, 9-11,11-6, 10-11 (2-0) 11-2 (65mins)
James Willstrop (Eng) bt David Palmer (AUS) 7- 11, 11-3, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7 (65mins)

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