With the lights full on Beachill, the British champion, was in tremendous form. He loves this new ASB glass court and when it was first used in the British Open last year, he handed Peter Nicol a very comprehensive beating. He looked as though he would do it again in the first game which saw him in imperious form and making Nicol do a lot of running. When Beachill is in this sort of form, controlling the rallies and slotting in scything winners at just the right time, he is a world beater. But he demonstrated yet again that he cannot maintain this sort of form. Hardly surprising - few players can.

He won the first game, after building a 10-3 lead but relaxed just enough to let Nicol get to 9-11. Nicol called his own ball down to stop the run and then Beachill was back in the groove, thinking exceptionally well, reading Nicol like a primer and using an arsenal of shots to win 15-10 after 21 minutes.

MEMORIES? FORGET THEM!

Ricketts told me later that it was at this point he remembered leading David Palmer two love and losing. He lost his nerve and started going for winners too soon and then getting irritated by the referees decisions. He was simply unravelling before our eyes; this allowed White to start hitting winners and after an untidy, bad tempered 11 minutes White had pulled one back 15-7.

This unattractive squash continued in the fourth as Ricketts hit bad length and bad width while White had found his magic touch and was appearing to wave his racket at the ball for exquisite winners. Worse still for Ricketts it appeared as though he had completely lost the will to win as he gave away the last five points. White won the that game 15-10 to make it 2/2 and seemed ready to prove his seeding but Ricketts came out for the fifth with a clean slate, went back to his original game plan and did to White what he had done in the first two games. White seemed to have no answer; even his bunch of winners could not pull him back from 4-10 and Ricketts went on to produce the first real upset of the tournament by winning 3/2.

“Yeah, I lost my head a bit in the middle. But when John made an error at 10-4 in the fourth it struck me that was the first mistake he’d made in about half an hour. In the fifth I made sure I did not go short too quickly and got the ball to the back of the court because I had tried to finish the game and get off court in the third and fourth,” Ricketts explained. It was the first time he had played White in a PSA tournament and will help him get further into the top ten, a status he achieved in the latest rankings.

PERFECT PALMER PUMMELS PARKE 

POWER WALKEROVER

Power will play Stewart Boswell in the quarters after the Australian beat Mohammed Abbas in four. Abbas gave at least a dozen strokes away on the left of the court, opting to straight drive the ball with Boswell standing right behind him. Perhaps Abbas should watch Palmer play the backhand crosscourt drive and take a hint.

THE FIGHTING FINN

Olli Tuominen was the only qualifier to make it through to the quarters beating 8th seeded Martin Heath in four. To continue his winning streak he will have to beat Alex Gough’s conqueror, Thierry Lincou, in the quarters. He could do it, but it’s going to be a helluva battle.