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Last updated 09/08/2002

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By Martin Bronstein from Symphony Hall Boston

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Nicol Gets the Rough of the Draw

Sept 8 2002, Concord MA - Although he handled Lee Beachill quite comfortably a week ago in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open, Peter Nicol will not be happy with having to play this tough young Yorkshireman in the first round of the US Open which starts on Thursday at the Boston Symphony Hall.

BRILLIANT OR INCONSISTENT?
Twice before Beachill has taken Nicol apart - once in the British Open and once in the British Nationals. In the 2001British Open Beachill simply took the court away from Nicol and showed that he not only had a fine defensive game balanced by an intelligent attacking game, but he also had a superb squash brain to know when to use the right part of his game. What will be of comfort to Nicol – apart from his latest win – will be the knowledge that Beachill has yet to find the secret to consistency. He can rarely string three good matches together, which is why Beachill is not in the top five where many observers – including this writer – feel he should be. Certainly he has just risen to world number eight, his highest ever ranking, but we expected him to be there a year ago.

EXHAUSTED OPPONENT
Another comfort for Nicol will be that his quarterfinal opponent will be either John White or Anthony Ricketts, the comfort coming from the knowledge that the winner will be well worn. A White/ Ricketts is not over in a 30minutes: these two will push each other to the limits. White, ranked fifth, can destroy anybody on the circuit when his all-court range of killer winners is working well while ‘Rocket’ Ricketts has improved enormously in the last 12 months and has entered the top ten in the latest rankings.

Should Nicol beat the winner, he will almost certainly have to face David Palmer, world number three in the semis….no, not a good draw for Nicol and he will have to be at the top of his fitness if he is to reach the final.

EASIER LIFTING
At the other end of the draw, Jonathon Power looks to have a doddle through to the final with only Stewart Boswell, ranked four, and Thierry Lincou, ranked six to bar his way. So far neither of these players have found a way to beat the talented Canadian and his first round opponent – Chris Walker - will have met his match in the Department of Excess Verbiage.

The unknown quantities are the Qualifiers, who will be staging their battles at the superb squash facility of Harvard University under the watchful eye of Satinder Bajwa, Harvard Coach and Super Series boss.

Out of the list of 16 qualifiers four will go through to the main draw to meet David Palmer, Mark Chaloner, Martin Heath and Thierry Lincou. Amr Shabana, the hugely talented Egyptian, ranked 15, must be a good bet to get into the money. Belgium’s Stefan Casteleyn should also be carefully watched and I would not be least bit surprised if he finds himself facing David Palmer in the quarter-finals of the main draw.
I shall also be watching Dan Jenson, the low key Australian who was headed for the top just five years ago when injuries dropped him right out of the top fifty after being number six in the world. The last few months have produced a series of good wins putting him back to number 38, indicating that he is on the mend.

HISTORIC VENUE
This is going to be an historic US Open in many ways: the first time the Boston Symphony Hall has been used for a squash tournament (it was all set to happen last year until the events of September 11) and the first use of the new WISPA all-glass ASB court in the US. The court was purchased for WSPA by an American sponsor to give a higher profile to WISPA tournaments in North America, but strangely will be used for the first time for a PSA tournament, as their own somewhat battered plastic court is laid to rest (or should be).

Promoter John Nimick is working frantically to catch up on the four weeks taken out of his schedule when PSA gave his dates to the French Open, a mindless act that almost forced Nimick to once more cancel his Symphony Hall dates and postpone the tournament. Fortunately for Nimick the French tournament lost its main sponsor and cut the prize money by 75% which meant it lost its Super Series status and hence could not take precedence over the US Open.

It is to be fervently hoped by all who follow the game that this tournament will sell out and allow Nimick to recoup the $30,000 it cost him to postpone last year’s tournament