"It was the best birthday present I could ever have hoped
for," said Aberdeenshire's Inverurie hero Nicol as he put his hands
on the trophy for the first time and collected his £7,420 winner's
cheque. His father Pat was court-side as Peter dedicated the victory to
his mother Sigrid, who died six years ago before he took up squash
full-time. It was in January 1973 - three months before Nicol was born -
that the prestigious title was last in British hands, those of the
sport's legendary Jonah Barrington who was ending his six-title run.
The NIA success was a magnificent conclusion to a highly-significant
twelve months for the London-based Scot, which began in the 1997 final
when he extended Jansher in his tenth year of domination in the sport.
After five games and 126 minutes - making it one of the longest British
Open finals on record - the Pakistani secured his sixth title in a row,
but acknowledged that the win had been his toughest. Since then, three
major tournament wins over his famous adversary enabled Nicol to
overtake Khan in the world rankings, becoming Britain's first ever world
No1 on 1st February this year. The new British Open champion will
undoubtedly return to a hero's welcome this Thursday (9 April) when he
arrives in Scotland to open the first 'Peter Nicol Squash & Fitness
Centre' in Westhill near Aberdeen.
Nicol achieved his anticipated place in the 98 British Open final
without conceding a game, and provided maximum entertainment for the
impressive Birmingham crowds throughout the week: A 15/12 15/7 15/9
victory over fellow left-hander and England captain Chris Walker in his
opening NIA match led to a quarter-final meeting with British champion
Simon Parke - who late the previous night had starred in the most
talked-about match of the tournament when he came back from 2-0 down to
beat Mark Chaloner, Nicol's surprise conqueror in February's National
Championships, 13/15 8/15 15/12 15/7 15/11 in a 110-minute repeat of the
Nationals' final. Parke showed no signs of these earlier demands as he
extended the top seed in the exhilarating opening two games of their
last eight encounter. By the third, however, the Yorkshireman was spent,
and Nicol claimed a 15/13 15/13 15/6 victory which brought him into a
semi-final against Rodney Eyles, the Australian who beat him to take the
World Open title last November. Nicol stifled the Aussie onslaught 15/9
15/13 15/11 in just 49 minutes to gain his revenge and a return fixture
against the defending champion in the final.
Numerous players played starring roles in this year's
hugely-successful British Open debut at Birmingham's National Indoor
Arena, the UK's principal purpose-built indoor sports arena which is
situated in the heart of the country. Australia's Adelaide-based No10
seed Dan Jenson had to overcome a two-game deficit to beat Canada's
Graham Ryding, the earlier conqueror of Egypt's No5 seed Ahmed Barada,
and set up a quarter-final clash with qualifier David Evans, the
Welshman who ended the run of No3 seed Jonathon Power after the Canadian
withdrew at two games up when he aggravated an ankle injury sustained in
February. Jenson needed four games to defeat Evans, earning him a place
in the last four in only his third British Open appearance. It took Khan
68 minutes to overcome the 22-year-old Australian in four games to reach
his ninth Open final.
Fellow Australian John White, from Mount Isa in
Queensland, became a
rare British Open qualifier to reach the last eight when he survived a
five game encounter with compatriot Joseph Kneipp, an Open qualifier for
the second successive year, to reach an all-Queensland quarter-final
against Rodney Eyles - the first two games of which went to the wire
before the world champion triumphed 17/16 17/16 15/12. Another unseeded
quarter-finalist was Paul Johnson - the 25-year-old England No3 from
Kent who on 1st April moved up to a career high No11 in the Dunlop PSA
world rankings, and then demonstrated the validity of his new status by
defeating Australia's No8 seed Anthony Hill 15/12 9/15 15/10 15/6 in the
second round - before losing in straight games to Khan.
The women's event was dominated by favourite Sarah
Fitz-Gerald's
third successive final defeat by compatriot Michelle Martin - at 3-0,
the No2 seed's most decisive of them all. "This win comes a close
second to the feeling I got from the first," said the jubilant
30-year-old six-times champion from Sydney after the game. Fitz-Gerald,
who had won seven of their eight encounters last year, was clearly
anxious at the prospect of securing the only title which has hitherto
eluded her. Both players were untroubled until the semi-finals - with
Martin dropping her only games in the tournament when she had to fight
back from 1-0 and 2-1 down to overcome Kent's Aylesbury-based British
champion Sue Wright, the No3 seed, 1/9 9/4 7/9 9/2 9/4, and Fitz-Gerald
losing a fast and furious first game to an inspired Cassie Jackman, the
No4 seed from Norfolk, before taking the match 6/9 9/4 9/4 9/4.
