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Last updated 01/09/2002
US Open Semi finals
- by Martin Bronstein
Kneipp can't solve
Nicol, Power wears out Chaloner
Photos:© 2002 Debra
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The
Memorial US Open - Semis, Tuesday Evening
January 8, 2001 Back Bay, Boston, MA--
Martin Bronstein reporting from
the Boston Sheraton,
THE SAME GAME BUT OH! SO DIFFERENT
The semi-finals produced the expected result to set up another Nicol/Power
confrontation, but what completely different versions of the game of squash
they produced and in most unexpected ways. It wasn't Jonathon Power's
match with Mark Chaloner that was full of fireworks and ooohs from the
crowd and it wasn't Peter Nicol's tussle with Joe Kneipp that was boring
old attritional squash. In fact, quite the reverse with the latter pair
enthralling the crowd.
HANGING ON EVERY SHOT
The
ballroom was packed again and produced almost a carnival atmosphere with
a tremendous buzz of anticipation. The world champion and the qualifier
didn't let them down and produced a match of elegance and imagination
that kept producing new things to keep the crowd hanging on every shot.
It has been a very long time since I have witnessed such an animated,
appreciative and knowledgeable squash audience.
The first game alone was worth the price of admission with Kneipp, ranked 27 in the world, demonstrating time and time again that he was the equal of Nicol, world number one and world champion. This was full out attacking squash with Nicol in Destroyer mode, volleying with precision, scraping balls off the wall to send them into the back of the court.
He hated to let a ball go by while Kneipp took his time and thought out his strategy well. He was on to Nicol's disguised cross courts and sending the ball constantly over Nicol's head, forcing him to acknowledge the existence of the back wall. And no other player on the circuit uses the skid boast like Kneipp to get himself out of trouble in the back right corner.
A GENTLEMAN'S DECISION
After
a nervous start - three unforced errors - Kneipp worked his way back from
1-4 to 7-7 and then moved ahead to lead 10-8, a critical point in the
match. Win the next point on the pressure was on Nicol, lose it and it's
just about even again. Kneipp hit a forehand drive into the tin, Nicol
hit a low cross court winner and it was 10-10. And so they battled, Kneipp
taking a lead, Nicol coming back and then hitting a streak to get to game
ball 14-12. Kneipp got a stroke to save one game ball and then evened
it up with an exquisite sliding drop shot across into the nick after a
quite remarkable series of drops from both players.
This was truly sensation squash and the crowd were gasping, and applauding after every point. They exchanged points to 16 all and then Nicol hit a loosish ball down the middle of the court, Kneipp held his shot and asked for a let. If he got the stroke, like so many thought he should, he had the all-important first game. The referee paused and then said Yes,let. A huge intake of breath from the crowd, who waited for Kneipp to appeal, knowing that the appeals referee had overruled on two occasions. All eyes were on Kneipp. His mouth remained shut and he handed the ball to Nicol to serve again. Nicol won the next point with a tight forehand drop to win the game after 25 glorious minutes. (Someone close to Kneipp said later "He can be kind and he can be aggressive, but always at the wrong time.")
Kneipp, super guy, did not want to win the game on a stroke. He paid for that sportsmanship, because even though he matched Nicol all the way through to 10-10 in the second, he lost concentration, played a tiny bit loose and Nicol needed no second bidding to use a variety of shots close out the game 15-10.
UNPLAYABLE DROPS
At
6-all in the third, Kneipp's resolve faltered and Nicol used a series
of feather drops into the front left corner that even Kneipp acknowledged
were 'unbelievable'. Nicol won that last game 15-7 in ten minutes and
the two players left the court to lasting applause. "He was changing the
pace all the time which allowed him to dominate parts of the first game,
but when I slowed it down, I took control . I was feeling the strain at
the end of the second so I knew he would be too, " Nicol said. Kneipp,
the hero of this tournament, said it would have been different had he
won the first game. "I always play better when I'm ahead, especially against
Peter." Asked about squandering the very important leads he had in the
first game, he smiled. "When I get ahead I think 'what can I do really
bad?' which is not good for my game." And that is the essential difference
between Nicol and most of the other players; he has an iron hard self-discipline
and would never allow himself to get fancy for the sake of getting fancy.
Nicol is there to win and win he does with the minimal amount of fuss
- there were just seven referee's decisions in the entire match.
BRING ON THE SHOVING MATCH
In
total contrast, Power and Chaloner notched up 87 decisions in the course
of their 69 minute match en route to notching up a total of 66 points.
There was more body contact than the average porn film. Their first game,
even longer (28 minutes) than the first game of the first semi-final,
was almost without any invention, just repeated patterns of play - or
perhaps pattern of play. This was not what we expected from Power, but
he must have known what he was doing. His width was two feet off the wall
and his length was appalling. Maybe he was inviting Chaloner to do something
silly, like go for a winner. This form of squash silenced the crowd and
took the excitement right out of them.
The
only real entertainment was Power's grimaces and quips. When denied a
stroke, he said 'That was a winning shot.' 'No it wasn't,' retorted the
ref. 'I swear it was going to hit the nick," said Power. Laughter, and
on with the boredom. In the second game Power started using his short
game and he soon had it won 15-4 in 14 minutes. The third game was all
Power, either his winners or his errors and he won that 15-7 in 19 minutes.
I asked him what the first game was all about. "I did that to take the
sponge out of Mark's legs, make him move around the court. It worked and
by the second game he wasn't able to move so fast." And all those lets?
" We're fighting for the same space and neither of us want to give it
up." So Nicol and Power meet again, their 26th meeting, with Nicol now
ahead 14-11. should be fun.
