Bermuda Open Squash 2003

RESULTS & Reports
05 Mar - Final: Beng Hee aims for top five after Bermuda win By Matt Westcott, Royal Gazette, Bermuda The Malaysian, currently ranked No.9 in world, saw off France's world No.6 Thierry Lincou 3-1 (15-13, 9-15, 15-14, 17-16) in front of a capacity crowd at the Bermuda Squash Racquets Association's Devonshire courts last night. It was fitting end to a tournament, staged with Logic Communications in association with ACE Group of Companies, Endurance Specialty Ltd and the Bank of Butterfield, that has seen five of the world's top 20 battle it out over three days. Last night's finale had the crowd on their feet, holding their breath and at times looking on in disbelief as the two players managed to find angles that Pythagoras would have been proud of. In the end it was Beng Hee, conqueror of Bermuda's Gary Plumstead and Scotland's world No.5 John White en route to the final, who won the day. "I am very, very happy to have won the tournament," he said afterwards. "I think it's great for my confidence. Hopefully, this will be the start of new things for me. I haven't played very well in the last six or seven tournaments so, hopefully, this is a big step for me towards the top four or five. I will definitely mention something about Bermuda if I do really well in the next couple of tournaments." In the first game the two players were really feeling each other out, but several unforced errors towards the end by Lincou gave Beng Hee some breathing space and he was able to take it in just over 22 minutes. The intensity began to pick up in the second and it was the European who was able to get his winners in down the stretch to level the match after a further 13 minutes. Though the Open is not a Professional Squash Association tournament and does not have a bearing on rankings you would not have believed it after witnessing the titanic struggles of the third game. Referee and fellow pro John White also made his presence felt refusing to give Beng Hee a 'let' early on and then replying in kind to Lincou - the incident causing the latter to hurl his racquet. After 25 minutes of blood, sweat and tears it was Beng Hee who took a decisive 2-1 lead into the fourth game. His rival had given everything but now needed to produce a superhuman effort to stay in the contest. At 14-13 the players scurried from front to back and back to front and then Lincou produced a magical shot to the far right corner which Beng Hee, diving full length, was just unable to reach. The Frenchman pumped his fist and you wondered whether he might be able to square things. But it was not to be, the energy expended had taken its toll, and though he was able to save two match balls, he could do nothing about the third, Beng Hee hammering a return of serve low into the wall to take the title. "Today was still very close. I think if we were both fresh he probably would have got away with it, so I was very lucky to win today," Beng Hee said, adding that he wondered whether he could pull it off after Lincou drew level. "I had doubts in my mind, obviously. In the third game he went 9-4 up and he played really well. I just thought 'this is unbelievable, I'm not going to beat him now," he said. "But then I think he got a bit tired and I was quite lucky to win a few quick points and that's how I got back into it."To win the third game 15-14 and then 17-16 in the fourth - luck was definitely on my side today." Lincou, out but not down, believed the exertions of reaching the final of the Tournament of Champions in New York last week were partly to blame. "I was trying, naturally, trying to fight, even though I was really exhausted" he said. "Mentally, I wasn't that hungry. He was much more hungry than me. I don't know if I have recovered well from New York - physically and mentally. I also didn't play too well yesterday and I think I spent too much energy winning then. Today, he was more fit and attacked more. But, you know, it was really pretty close." Lincou said there was one key point in the game that may have cost him. "Maybe in the third game when I was up. I just lost a little bit of my focus," he said. "He came back and I had a few mistakes and especially that serve out at 13-all - that really killed my brain." The loss in the final aside, Lincou said he was happy with the way things had gone recently. "It's a good run of matches and wins," he said, adding he was glad he came to Bermuda. "I have really enjoyed being here. It's been good training and it's been a good experience. I definitely want to come back and be ready for this again." Earlier in the evening, court jesters John White and Australian Joe Kneipp played in the final of a highly entertaining Lightning contest for those knocked out in the tournament's previous rounds. Kneipp, it was, who emerged victorious.	It's warmer in Bermuda than it was in Antwerp!
04 Mar - Semi-Finals: Beng Hee and Lincou face final countdown By Matt Westcott, Royal Gazette, Bermuda Ong Beng Hee and Thierry Lincou will contest the final of the Logic Bermuda Squash Open tonight, after putting paid to the chances of John White and Joseph Kneipp, respectively. Beng Hee's tigerishness and Thierry Lincou's French polish were enough to set up an intriguing climax to an event that has seen five of the world's top players, plus three of Bermuda's best, battle it out at the Bermuda Squash Racquet Association's Middle Road courts. Malaysian Beng Hee defeated Scotland's White 3-1 (17-15, 14-17, 15-11, 15-12) in a little over an hour and ten minutes. While Lincou, who last week was the beaten finalist at the Tournament of Champions in New York, kept his good run going, with a 3-1 (12-15, 15-6, 15-10, 15-11) win over Australian Kneipp in 56 minutes. Both Beng Hee, the world No.9, and world No.6 Lincou felt they had come across opponents who were not on top of their game last night. The Malaysian felt world No.5 White had made too many unforced errors, while Lincou believed he had benefited from a first round draw that pitted him against Bermuda's James Stout, while Kneipp was forced to battle past world No.12, Mark Chaloner of England. "I have always done very well against (John), I have beaten him a lot of times," said Beng Hee. "He is a very erratic player - he can play very well on a good day and sometimes, when he is not playing as well, he plays pretty bad. "I think today he didn't play very well and made a lot of mistakes and so I got the upper hand. I moved pretty well and covered the court pretty well and I think that frustrated him and he just kept hitting the tin. He gave me a lot of points." Lincou said he felt that Kneipp may have ran out the winner of his tie if only he had had the energy. "I think he was controlling the game. He went for some shots and he made me really move," Lincou said. "I was struggling a little bit. I think I was too defensive today. He tried to really push me and really made me work but at the end he got tired. He played the whole match - he had the points and the mistakes. "I think he was tired from the match yesterday. I think I am quite lucky to win - but that's the draw, you know. I didn't play my best squash but I am looking forward to playing better tomorrow (today)." The beaten semifinalists were left to reflect on what might have been. "I should have won the first, I was up 13-10, and I think that was the crucial game in a hot and bouncy court. I let that slip," said White, who believed he should have taken advantage of good positions in the second and third games as well. White also felt he did not get the rub of the green in one important decision in the final game, when Beng Hee was awarded a point that gave him match ball. White felt it should have been a let and then it would have still been anybody's game. However, he was sporting enough to say it was just one of those things. "There are no complaints," he said. "You win some, you lose some. He played better on the day, was more patient and played a great deal of winners as well, so full credit." Kneipp, despite winning the opener, said there was an air of inevitability about his match with Lincou. "I started off great but I knew what was going to happen. At the end of the first I started to get tired. I am not trying to take anything away from him, but my match yesterday (Monday) was one of the nastiest matches I have had in a while," he said. "Conditions here are very tough. We played for an hour and a half and it was unbelievably painful. When I finished yesterday I was finished. "Playing a guy in form like Thierry is, I knew after winning the first that the chances that I would be able to continue on at that pace were very unlikely. It is actually a horrible feeling of inevitability because I know almost for sure that I am playing well but he is going to run me out."	Palmer recovering after operation By Matt Westcott, Royal Gazette, Bermuda World squash champion Dave Palmer is recovering after undergoing an operation to remove his appendix. Palmer, who was recently granted Bermudian residency, was on the Island to take part in the Logic Bermuda Squash Open tournament. However, the Australian, ranked number three in the world, was forced to pull out at the 11th hour after falling ill over the weekend. What was at first thought to be a stomach virus turned out to be something far more serious. According to his coach, Shaun Moxham, the appendicitis was at an advanced stage and was diagnosed just in time by specialists at King Edward VII hospital. Speaking last night, Moxham said: "It got to the point where it was getting a little bit gangrenous within his stomach. The appendix itself was turning gangrenous and the next stage then is for it to explode. "When that happens it causes infection inside the body, in a lot of places where you don't want to have infection, and that then would have been very difficult for the doctors to treat. That can even go as far as being life threatening, so they got it just on time." The procedure itself was a success, Moxham said. "The operation went really well. They could remove it through his belly button, so they didn't have to cut through the muscles, which is great news for him, recovery wise," he said. "It probably cuts about three weeks off his recovery time." Palmer did not go under the knife until about 5 a.m. yesterday but Moxham hopes he may be allowed out of hospital sometime today. There then begins the process of recovery. "Obviously, we are going to have to be a little bit careful in the first few weeks," Moxham said. "We don't want to rush him back. We want to have him fit before he gets back on the court again. "It's not only about being physically free, it's about being mentally free as well. Obviously, he is going to be keen now because he was really looking forward to playing this tournament - Dave's the sort of guy who just loves being on the court, playing as much as he can. "I think in three, a maximum of four, weeks you are going to see the best of Dave Palmer again."
03 Mar - First Round: Island trio go down fighting By Matt Westcott, Royal Gazette, Bermuda Gary Plumstead sparked hopes of an upset, while James Stout and Tommy Sherratt gave brave performances, but all eventually fell to world class opposition at the Logic Bermuda Open Squash tournament last night. Plumstead, from South Africa but who coaches on the Island, took the first game off world No.9 Ong Beng Hee, before going down 3-1. Stout, the Island's top junior, held his own against world No.6 Thierry Lincou but went out 3-0, while Sherratt, an 11th hour replacement for stricken No.1 seed and world No.3 Dave Palmer (see story above), put up a valiant fight but was beaten 3-0 by Scotland's world No.5 John White. Plumstead had the crowd on its feet as he won the opening game against Beng Hee 15-11 in 12 minutes. The Malaysian squared the match in the second game, which he won 15-6, and as the tie progressed his superior level of fitness began to tell. He took the third game, though not without a fight, 15-10 and finished off the match with a 15-8 win in the third. Plumstead, who resembled the Lucky Stars' leprechaun as he bounced around the court celebrating each point he won with the excitement of someone many years his younger, said, though he had the shots, his legs would not allow him to make them by the end. "You have always got (the ability) in you but it's the fitness," he said. "Unfortunately, I coach six hours a day and they train six hours a day." He said he felt Beng Hee always had something in reserve, despite taking the opener off him. "I knew he wasn't going to go full out from the start," he said. "I knew that even after winning that first game that he would still have more to give. "I gave 99 percent in the first game and from there on he started giving more and I had less and less." Plumstead said he had tried to change his tactics to compensate, but to no avail. "I tried to kill the ball more," he said. "But they are just one step quicker. When you play people like Tommy (Sherratt) and Nick (Kyme) here they are one step slower so you know you have two seconds extra per shot, whereas with them you have one second less. You are always under pressure." Beng Hee said victory was important to him, no matter who it was against. "It's important in terms of winning matches," he said. "Though it's not a PSA event, we always try do our best and win as many matches as possible. It's good for your confidence to be able to take that forward to the next tournament." Stout, who joins the senior ranks later this year, won the opening three points in his match, much to the delight of the local fans, and then sparred with Lincou throughout the rest of the first game before losing it 15-12 in a little over ten minutes. He saved two game balls in the second, before Lincou ran out a 15-7 winner, and saved a match ball in the third before the Frenchman tied up the match 15-8. Stout was delighted afterwards, having done far better than he had predicted beforehand. "It was a great match for me," he said. "I went out there hoping to get three points in the entire match and in every game I doubled that. I couldn't have played better. To play someone of that calibre and get points is a great performance. It has really boosted my confidence. Playing like that makes me feel that I can go pro and I can compete. I am not quite up there yet but a few more years, keep going at it, and hopefully that will be me." Sherratt, knocked out by Stout in the local qualifiers, had expected to be sat in the bleachers rather than playing last night. He lost the opening game 15-2, grabbed five points to White's 15 in the second and improved still further in the last, losing 15-9. "I got the call this afternoon while I was at work. I was so excited when I heard that I was going to get the chance. To play at that level doesn't happen very often," he said. "It's always tough to adjust to the pace, those guys play at a phenomenal pace. But to get an experience like that is like being able to go play tennis with Agassi or Sampras. It was an amazing opportunity." White, the tournament's No.1 seed after Palmer pulled out, said he was happy with added pressure that went with that honour. It's one of those things when you are the No.1 seed, everyone is out there to beat you," he said. "But I am out to beat everyone else as well, so the pressure is on them as well." The other first round match played last night saw Australia's Joseph Kneipp defeat England's Mark Chaloner. Kneipp, world No.14, saw off Chaloner, world No.12, 3-2 (15-11, 15-9, 14-15, 10-15, 15-6). The semifinals take place tonight, with the final tomorrow.

Logic Bermuda Open 2003
Quarters Mon 3rd	Semis Tue 4th	Final Wed 5th
John White (Sco) 3/0 Tommy Sherratt (Ber)	John White 17/15, 14/17, 15/11, 15/12 Ong Beng Hee	Ong Beng Hee 15-13, 9-15, 15-14, 17-16 Thierry Lincou
Ong Beng Hee (Mas) 11/15, 15/6, 15/10, 15/8 Gary Plumstead (Ber)
Joe Kneipp (Aus) bt 5/11, 15/9, 14/15, 10/15, 15/6 Mark Chaloner (Eng)	Joe Kneipp 12/15, 15/6, 15/10, 15/11 Thierry Lincou
Thierry Lincou (Fra) 15/12, 15/7, 15/8 James Stout (Ber)