Reports:
[1] Peter Nicol (Eng) v
[10] Lee Beachill (Eng) 15/13, 15/13, 15/12 (61m)
[4] Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt
[8] Ong Beng Hee (Mas) 14/17, 12/15, 15/9, 15/2, 17/16 (85m)
[3] David Palmer (Aus) bt
[11]Anthony Ricketts (Aus) 14/15, 13/15, 15/1, 15/12, 15/5 (77m)
[2] Jonathon Power (Can) bt
[5] Thierry Lincou (Fra) 15/14, 15/9, 15/7 (61m)
All four top seeds came through to their expected semi-finals, but while Nicol and Power enjoyed 3-0 victories, Australians Boswell and Palmer did it the hard way ...
POWER PUTS PAID
TO TITI
Tournament favourite
Jonathon Power was first on court, facing last year's surprise finalist Thierry Lincou, the half-Chinese Frenchman who enjoyed
most of the local support. Lincou pushed Power hard
in the first, but thereafter the Frenchman fell away as Power exerted more
and more control.
Lincou can can himself unlucky to lose that first game though, as he was denied a let at 14-all when many thought a stroke was in order. "It was a harsh call. Bad for him, good for me," Power told the SCMP.
Unusually, Power did not wear a bandana to control his flowing locks. "Everyone is wearing a bandanna these days so I decided I needed something else to keep it fresh," said Power.
NICOL LAYS THE
GHOST
Peter Nicol, looking for victory here to consolidate his world number
one position, faced Lee Beachill, his
Commonwealth Games Gold double partner. Beachill had scored two major wins
over Nicol, in the 2001 British Open and the 2002 British Nationals, and
although he pushed Nicol hard here, was unable to repeat the feat as Nicol
won three close games.
"This is the best I have played since the British Open," Nicol told the SCMP. "I'm fit and feeling strong. I have worked extremely hard. But my recent break just before I came to Hong Kong also seems to have helped me relax."
BOZ BEATS BENG
HEE'S FANS
Australia's Stewart Boswell,
faced Asian champion Ong Beng Hee, who the Hong Kong crowd have
claimed as their own. Ong, roared on by the capacity crowd, took a two game
lead before Boswell fought back strongly to level the match. A ferocious
fifth game ensued, that was level pegging all the way, and kept the crowd,
and the CathaySquash chat room, in suspense until the very end.
"A classic encounter that would have made even Alfred Hitchcock nervous", was how Alvin Sallay of the SCMP described it. At 16-all in the fifth a denied let, which some observers felt was a 50/50 call, went against Ong.
"It was nerve-wracking, to say the least," the victorious Boswell told the SCMP. At two games all, I figured it would be close and we would go point by point. It got pretty tight."
"All I needed was a point", said a dejected Ong. "It is very painful to lose this way. I would have not minded if I had lost 15-7 or 15-8. But to lose 17-16 in the fifth is very tough. I guess luck was not on my side. I was a bit unlucky. Leading 2-0 up and 5-1 in the third I thought I had it won. But I got a little bit tired. Not physically but mentally tired and Stewart raised the tempo and just hung in there."
PALMER SURVIVES
RICKETTS SCARE
David Palmer, the defending
champion, faced in Anthony Ricketts a fellow Aussie in the same mould
as himself - big, strong, determined and skillful. Palmer was decidedly
unhappy to find himself two games down, 15/14, 15/13, unhappy with both
himself and the referee. A fired-up Palmer came out and blitzed Ricketts
15-1 in the third, and claimed the next two to set up a semi-final showdown
with Power.
Will it be a repeat of their classic
2001 Super Series battle?
Stay tuned to CathaySquash.com to find out ...
The Fan's View
Our man Amir
reports from HK
Boswell v Beng Hee
as the Graphs saw it
Beng
Hee takes game one ...
and moves 2-0 ahead.
Boswell rallies to take the third ...
...
and levels the match at 2-all in convincing style
the nail-biting fifth ...
Choose OVERVIEW on
the scoreboard
for graphs on any match
Reports: