16/17 17/15 15/10 15/11

Mark Chaloner

15-10 15-10 15-8

Stewart Boswell

Peter
Nicol

15-11 15-10 15-6

15/10 15/13 15/8

Paul Johnson

15/11 15/11 15/9

Simon Parke

15-13 15-10 15-12

15/10 11/15 10/15
15/8 15/12

Jonathon Power

This was the third successive Cathay Pacific final between the pair, and the easy manner of Nicol's victory, echoing last year's result here and extending his run over Power to 4 victories this year, increases the impression that Nicol is opening up a clear gap over his rivals at the top of men's squash. 

Nicol was in confident mood, dominating from the word go and never letting Power settle into the match. Power cited several problems affecting his performance, including his knee injury from last week, the hand injury from the quarter finals here, and the borrowed racket he was forced to play with after suffering two string breakages, adding that anyone would probably have beaten him 3-0 today. "I felt Peter was playing at about 60 percent of what he is capable of. He was not playing his best but that was still good enough to beat me."

With his eight month unbeaten run intact, Nicol was looking forward to maintaining his dominance and regaining the British Open title he lost to Power in December. "´I want to start there like I did here and keep going. I’m getting mentally stronger and my confidence is getting better," said Nicol. Power too is keen us for the British Open challenge - "I’m going to be ready for the British Open. I’m fired up and hungry again" said the Canadian.

Reality strikes as top seeds go through to the final ...
The fairy tale run of Australian qualifiers Stewart Boswell and Anthony Ricketts in the $84,000 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship finally came to an end in today's (Saturday) semi-finals when they lost in straight games to the event's top seeds Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power, respectively.

Top seed Nicol, the defending champion and world No1 from Scotland, maintained his unbeaten PSA Tour run since February with a 15-10 15-10 15-8 victory over Boswell - toppling the Canberra-born 22-year-old in his first appearance in a Super Series semi-final.  The world No27 had earlier removed Nicol's anticipated semi-final opponent Ahmed Barada, the world No3 from Egypt, in straight games.

World No2 Power, the second seed from Toronto in Canada and Hong Kong Open champion in 1998, dismissed Ricketts 15-13 15-10 15-12 to reach his fourth successive Cathay Pacific final - and the 35th PSA Tour final in his career.

Arguably, the Nicol/Power confrontation - their fourth in 2000 - will be the pair's most significant to date:  Nicol's three successive victories over his arch-rival this year (in the finals of the Irish Open and PSA Masters, and June's semi-finals of the Super Series Finals) brings their career tally to 10 wins apiece. Victory for Nicol would put him ahead for the first time since 1996.

Howard Harding

Nicol moves ahead 11-10

World No.1  and top seed Peter Nicol fended off a determined challenge from England's Mark Chaloner,  advancing to the semi finals. Chaloner took the first game 17-16 and had game balls at 14-12 in the second before Nicol fought back to record a 3-1 quarterfinal victory, keeping his eight-month unbeaten streak intact.

World No. 2 Jonathon Power was also forced to fight back after dropping the second and third games against John White to go 2-1 down. Power injured his left thumb at the start of the fourth game, but held on bravely to win 3-2. With a suspected broken thumb to add to the knee he injured in Egypt last week, the Canadian's progress is again in doubt. "I will have to wait and see if I can continue. It is going to be awfully tough to compete" said Power after the match. 

The top two will meet two Australian qualifiers in the semis, as Stewart Boswell and Anthony Ricketts both downed much higher ranked English opposition. Boswell, ranked 27th in the world, defeated Paul Johnson 15-10, 15-13, 15-8. The 39th-ranked Ricketts upset World No. 4 Simon Parke 15-11, 15-11, 15-9.

Howard Harding reports ...

AUSTRALIANS BOSWELL & RICKETTS GATE-CRASH HONG KONG SEMI-FINALS

Australians Anthony Ricketts and Stewart Boswell became the first pair of qualifiers ever to reach the semi-finals of a PSA Super Series event when they fought through today's (Friday) quarter-finals of the $84,000 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship - each downing seeded English opposition in straight games!

Canberra-born Boswell, the 22-year-old from Waramanga who was runner-up in the World Junior Championships in 1996, had earlier ousted Egypt's world No3 Ahmed Barada without loss. Today he trounced sixth seed Paul Johnson, the left-hander from London, 15-10 15-13 15-8 in 56 minutes.  Ironically, Boswell - who trains at Caversham's Reflex Club in England, and is a popular figure in Birmingham where he represents the prestigious Edgbaston Priory club in the National League - dropped one position to No27 in today's new PSA world rankings.

Ricketts, from Sydney, took just 40 minutes to overcome fourth seed Simon Parke, a semi-finalist in 93 and 98, 15-11 15-11 15-9.  The 21-year-old, who made his professional debut in November 1996, has yet to break into the world's top 30 - and today moved up one place in the new world list to No 43.

Surprisingly, the event's top seeds Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power survived tougher battles to take their anticipated places in the last four.  Defending champion Nicol, the top seed from Scotland, needed 76 minutes to subdue England's unseeded Mark Chaloner, the world No15 from Lincolnshire, 16-17 17-15 15-10 15-11. The world No1 and world champion now meets Boswell.

World No2 Power had to fight back from 2-1 down against Scotland's Australian-born John White - and then 12-11 behind in the fifth game - before claiming a 15-10 11-15 10-15 15-8 15-12 victory in 66 minutes. The Toronto-based 26-year-old now faces Anthony Ricketts in a bid to reach his 35th PSA Tour final.

Barada retires as Heath and Harris tumble
Top seeds Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power moved one step closer to a final showdown, but a host of other seeds fell by the wayside in the second round. Ahmed Barada, Martin Heath, Anthony Hill and Del Harris were all bundled out as Nicol and Power moved smoothly into the quarters. Nicol dropped a game against Alex Gough but bounced back to win 3-1, while Power had it easier, crushing David Palmer 3-0 in just 37 minutes.

Australia's Anthony Ricketts, ranked 39, continued his giant-killing run, following up yesterday's defeat of David Evans to come back from two games down to stun world no 8 Del Harris. England’s Mark Chaloner claimed the scalp of world #5 Martin Heath, winning a 65-minute battle 3-1.

Another Australian upset came when  Stewart Boswell, world No. 27, scored a 3-0 win over Ahmed Barada - the Egyptian retired in the third game, saying he was ill. Malaysian qualifier Ong Beng Hee put up a brave fight but eventually went down 3-1 to Paul Johnson in 76 minutes, Johnson taking the final game 15/14.

Seventh seed Anthony Hill was brushed aside in a mere 18 minutes by Scot John White - another strange day in the Anthony Hill saga ...

Barada Out

Canada's world No2 Jonathon Power showed few signs of the knee injury which caused him to withdraw from last week's Al-Ahram International in Egypt as he crushed locally-based Pakistani Faheem Khan 15-1 15-11 15-6 in 34 minutes in today's (Wednesday) second day of first round matches in the $84,000 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship.

In the second round of "my favourite tournament", Toronto-based Power, the 1998 champion, faces Australia's David Palmer - who achieved the swiftest victory in the event so far, beating compatriot Billy Haddrell 15-5 15-9 15-8 in just 26 minutes.

Further Australian opposition awaits Power in  the bottom quarter of the draw. World No7 Anthony Hill, the Amsterdam-based Australian No1, defeated Derek Ryan 17-16 15-11 15-10 in 58 minutes to claim his first victory on the PSA Tour since beating the Irishman in the first round of the Flanders Open in Belgium in February. Hill now meets former compatriot John White, now playing in Scottish colours, who ended Hong Kong Open stalwart Rodney Eyles' brief run in the event, coming back from a game behind to conquer the 1996 champion 5-15 15-7 15-9 15-9 in 38 minutes. 

Australian qualifier Anthony Ricketts, the world No39 from Sydney, claimed the only significant upset of the day when he beat world No10 Welshman David Evans 15-10 15-5 15-5, the second successive first round defeat for this year's British National Championships' runner-up in ten days. Ricketts now meets another Briton, England's 8th seed Del Harris who beat Amjad Khan of Pakistan 15-9 15-11 15-10.

England team-mates Simon Parke and Peter Marshall, training partners at Nottingham Squash Club, will face each other in the second round for their second meeting on the PSA Tour this year.  Parke, the 4th seed, was too strong for Australian qualifier Dan Jenson, beating the injury-plagued former world No5 15-8 15-8 15-12 in 35 minutes. Marshall, ranked 9 in the world, made amends for his shock first round exit in last week's Al-Ahram event by beating compatriot Nick Taylor, the world No19 from Manchester, 7-15 15-12 17-14 15-10 in 72 minutes - the longest battle of the day.

First Round, First Day  

Scotland's world champion and world No1 Peter Nicol carried on today (Tuesday) in the $84,000 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship where he left off last week in the Al-Ahram International - winning his first round match after losing the opening game. The London based defending champion, seeded to retain his title, took 55 minutes to overcome Australia's Joseph Kneipp 12-15 15-6 15-7 15-5 on the opening day of the prestigious PSA Super Series event - and now faces Welshman Alex Gough, who quashed young Egyptian Amr Shabana 17-14 15-11 15-8 in just 37 minutes.

Two qualifiers took their places in the second round after surviving five-game battles against higher-ranked opposition.  Malaysia's former world junior champion Ong Beng Hee twice fought from behind to beat France's world No14 Thierry Lincou 7-15 15-9 7-15 15-11 15-7 in 58 minutes, while Australia's Stewart Boswell came back from 2-1 down to beat Canada's world No11 Graham Ryding, a semi-finalist last year, 17-14 12-15 15-17 15-3 15-3 in 75 minutes.

Canada's Jonathon Power, the 1998 champion who is seeded to reach his fourth successive Hong Kong final on Sunday, begins his 2000 campaign against local player Faheem Khan on Wednesday when the remaining first round matches take place.