A Memorable Duo of Matches
By Martin Brontein
May 12, 2005 All content © 2004 Squashtalk
[last update was 13-may-05 ]

Power and Lincou in Last Gasp Victories

Power started slowly but was dazzling when it counted. (photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert)

After the ennui and lack of excitement of yesterday, the players finally delivered something to stop the breathing and set the pulses racing in two nail-biting semi-finals that surely left four players totally exhausted. This was squash for real, never mind the lack of ranking points; all four players wanted to make an appearance in the final and pushed to the very limit to get that $22.500 cheque.

POWER PUSHES PALMER, PALMER PUSHES POWER, POWER PIPS PALMER

First up was Jonathon Power and David Palmer. It may have not been the greatest squash I have seen this year but for drama this match kept the packed marquee glued to every point. Strangely enough the crowd seemed to be favouring Jonathon Power, not a common sight outside of Canada. David Palmer remarkably kept his cool thoughout the 100 minutes it took for the five games to be played out to its dramatic end.

The storyline that gave the five chapters a common thread was Power’s continuing accusation that Palmer blocked his path to the ball. I never counted the number of times Power collided with Palmer in his attempt to get to the ball. Nor can I remember a match where Palmer spent so much time sitting on the floor after the collisions.
But to start at the beginning: Palmer started well while Power was simply not at home. After all, Power had not played a proper game since Monday when he lost to Thierry Lincou. His match against Nicol lasted half a game and Shabana hardly put up any resistance. On top of that just before the match started Power was having his left ankle strapped. He was also wearing a pair of new shoes – badminton shoes. “I went into a shop and bought them. I haven’t done that since I was ten,” he told me.

Palmer was fighting his opponent, himself, the referees and the crowd (photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert)

On the other hand Palmer had improved with each day and so the wise money was on him. He played steadily while Power was hitting errors and not placing the ball with his usual thought. At 10-5, Power, when denied a stroke, said to referee Peter Kramer: “Is this going to happen all night?” referring to Palmer blocking his path going into the front corner. Kramer replied that he saw what was happening. Power said “ You haven’t seen it for 15 years, you won’t see it tonight.” Realising he had been rude he immediately apologized. Kramer must have laughed because Palmer then said “I don’t like the way you laughed at him. That’s not funny.”

Regardless of the laughter Palmer continued to dominate and took the game 11-6 in ten minutes.

It was a more settled Power who came out for the second game, led 2-1 with a couple of strokes and then went 3-6 down when Palmer hit a lucky sidewall nick.
Power finally started using his shots and went on an amazing six point run to lead 9-6, on one point his shot knocking the racket out of Palmer’s hand. The body contact and howls of rage from Power continued whenever his path to the ball was blocked. Palmer fought back to force extra points saving two game balls. He held gameball himself at 13-12 and Power stopped going two games down with a stunning forehand straight nick. He ran Palmer out of position to take the next point and then Palmer hit a forehand drop into the tin to lose the game 13-15 after 22 minutes of hard, exhausting squash.

Both players got an intimate view of the floor. (photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert)

Power shot to a 7-1 lead in the third but fell to the floor with a scream, holding his knee. He got up, face contorted with pain and walked around, rejecting injury time. Thankfully he played on and continued to hit winners while Palmer looked on. Power was still pushing his “Palmer is blocking’ campaign. After one incident saying to the referee: “It’s easy, say it with me: Stroke to Power”. The referee did not take up the invitation but Power went on to twin the game 11-6 after 11 minutes.

It was Palmer who came back all business in the fourth and he led all the way to 8-8, at which point the claims, shouts and counter claims became a little farcical. I did not have the patience to count the number of decisions the referee was called upon to make but by the end of the match it must have been close to three figures. Palmer played two winners to get to game ball which Power hit out of court.

So two games each and the suspense count rose higher than the let count. They got down to some seriously good squash in the final game and were neck and neck to 8-8 again but this time Power hit a tight backhand and then got a stroke to get to match ball. And then two errors put Palmer on even terms. But Palmer was charging to the front to pick up Power’s tinned forehand drop and there was a crash leaving both players on the floor. Palmer claimed a twisted ankle and took an injury break. He returned but found himself out of position in the first rally to put Power at match ball again. Palmer played a backhand drop and once again Power called a let in trying to get through to the ball. The Referee said no and so it was 11-11. Palmer then tried a low backhand cross court which clipped the top of the tin to give Power his fourth match ball. He finally earned the winning point with a backhand volley which Palmer could not touch and it was all over after 100 minutes of great entertainment.

At 10-10 in the fifth, Palmer went to the floor with an apparent ankle sprain. (photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert)

SEVEN MATCHBALLS AND BEACHILL STILL LOSES

Palmer was fighting his opponent, himself, the referees and the crowd (photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert)

Thierry Lincou looked jaded in his first game again Lee Beachill and the first game was over in seven minutes, 11-6 in Beachill’s favour, Lincou committing four unforced errors. Was he paying for yesterday’s exertions?

Perhaps he was in his slow start but by the middle of the second game he was back in form, caressing the ball and distributing with chess-like strategy. He was now volley dropping on his backhand as often as he could and Beachill found himself in a succession of trips to the front wall. It was hard to put a bet on either of these players as they tested each other around the court but Lincou was in the ascendancy and came from 3-6 to win 11-9 and even the match.

Another surprise: Bang, wallop, smack, Beachill lead the third game 5-1 – simply outplayed his French opponent – for no apparent reason. He never let his grip slacken and had the game 11-5 in ten minutes. Once more the thought occurred that Lincou was now tiring. This was reinforced when Beachill ran to the same lead in the fourth, but Lincou worked his way back and although Beachill never slackened, Lincou was pushing harder and with two successive strokes got back to 7-7. It was Beachill’s turn to hit a streak and with three wonderful winners he got to match ball. He was so anxious to finish it off he was looking for winners or opponent errors where there were none and Lincou saved three match balls to get back to 10-10. Beachhill held further match balls at 11-10, 12-11, 13-12 and 14-13, but each time Lincou persisted and managed to save them. He won a dropping duel to get to 14-14, hit a very luck nick at the back wall to get to game ball 15-14 and then played a drop to get the game 16-14 after 23 minutes. It was a game that Lincou will remember for a long time and one he will recall each time he finds himself match ball down.

There was no doubt the psychological damage to Beachill was irreparable – being that close to victory so many time and unable to reach the finishing line. He was a broken man in the fifth and Lincou ran though in 6 minutes to win 11-3 for a memorable victory.

A great days’s squash in a sunny London Town. Sometime life can be so very enjoyable.

Palmer was fighting his opponent, himself, the referees and the crowd (photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert)

Brit Insurance SuperSeries Finals[complete results]
Semi Finals:
Jonathon Power (CAN) bt David Palmer (AUS) 6-11 11-10(5-3) 11-6 8-11 11-10(3-1) (100 min)
Thierry Lincou (FR) bt Lee Beachill (ENG) 6-11 11-9 5-11 11-10 (6-4) 11-3

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