Men's Semi-Finals: 
[1] Peter Nicol (Eng) bt Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 
     15/10, 15/10, 15/12  (50m)
[Q] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [4] Jonathon Power (Can)
     15/11, 15/9, 12/15, 12/15, 15/9 (83m)

Women's Semi-Finals:
[1] Cassie Jackman (Eng) bt [3] Natalie Grinham (Aus) 
     9/5, 9/8, 2/9, 9/4  (50m)
[2] Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt [4] Natalie Grainger (Usa) 
     5/9, 9/5, 9/7, 9/4  (39m)

Willstrop does it again
 
James Willstrop followed the finest win of his career with another which was arguably even better to reach his most important PSA tour final so far, the Sheikha Al Saad Open in Kuwait.

The 20-year-old world junior champion overcame not only Jonathon Power, the former world champion from Canada, but the disappointment of losing a two-game lead, a mighty collision which left both players flattened, and a boiling cauldron of a finish in which the world's greatest stroke-making talents became intensely committed to survival.

Willstrop's 15-11,15-9,12-15,12-15,15-9 triumph followed a quarter-final win over John White, the world number two, and the greatest compliment that could be paid the young English qualifier is that rarely did his creative abilities look second best to Power's. And mentally he was superior.

"It kept coming into my mind 'could I produce it again after a big win,'" Willstrop said. "I have spoken to my dad a lot about this. It's so hard to come out the next day, so from the moment I came off court against White I was preparing for this. There was no getting over-excited."

Unfortunately dad - the former England coach Malcolm Willstrop - had been unable to get a visa and was not there courtside to help. The lad was on his own. "I tried to replay conversations I'd had with him in my head," he said.

As a spectacle this contest had most things. It had devious skills and diving acrobatics. It had rallies which twisted and turned into improbable patterns. It had a score-line which similarly ebbed and flowed. It also had sudden mistakes and undignified scrambling which added hugely to the entertainment.

But most of all it had a fine contrast between a level-headed youngster and a volatile old campaigner, who launched into a distracting sequence of play-acting expressions and ironic comments, and a series of badgering complaints to the referee.

But if the audience were increasingly diverted by the kaleidoscopic drama and the black comedy, Willstrop wasn't. He superbly contained a Power surge from 1-4 to 9-9 in the second game, and looked as though he might win three straight when he recovered from 5-9 to 11-11 in the third.

He showed no signs of disappointment at the brilliance with which Power snatched the third from him, or of the way in which Power contained his fight-back from 9-2 to 12-13 in the fourth. Willstrop played with remarkable ball control in very cool outdoor conditions on a deadish court, and with calm imagination as the pressure from his opponent mounted.

"But I thought I had let it slip though when it went to five," Willstrop admitted. "I got a little behind the pace. I decided to go for a no lose attitude. It worked a treat."

He was helped by the fact that by now Power was coming off the pace. He was playing with increasing desperation, mixing gambler's interceptions with dare-devil retrieves but no longer commanding the rallies.

He had had two months away from the circuit after the hand injury he suffered in Doha and although his desire and his racket-work were there, his match fitness was not quite. His reaction to defeat was also exemplary. "Good match," he told Willstrop. But it was the understatement of the night.

It left Willstrop to change his flight for a third time and to attempt to quell his excitement again. His opponent in the final is his England colleague, the top-seeded Peter Nicol, who won 15-10, 15-10,15-12 against the young and burgeoning Frenchman Gregory Gaultier.

Gaultier often moved his opponent around superbly and had useful leads in all three games, but couldn't make them count. The day when he would do so is not far off, or so Nicol seemed to think.

"Greg controlled periods of that match and had me running all over the court. I can't believe I am in the final after time off for illness and only three weeks training," Nicol said. "Am I still a young man? I don't feel like it," the 30-year-old added.


Earlier Cassie Jackman became certain of being world number one again when she beat Natalie Grinham to reach the women's final. The English woman's 9-5,9-7,2-9,9-5 win over the Australian returned Jackman to the pinnacle for the first time since the year 2000 and two career-threatening back injuries.

This remarkable achievement depended on Natalie Grainger losing the other semi-final, something which looked in doubt when the Manchester-born South African raised American led 7-4 in the third game against the elder of the Grinham sisters, Rachael.

But just when Grainger looked capable of pushing through into a dominant position, she made a flurry of mistakes to gift Grinham five of the next six rallies. The Cairo-based British Open champion capitalised by winning ten in a row and by the time Grainger could get it together again it was too late.

Grinham's 5-9,9-5,9-7,9-4 success gives the Aussie a chance of repeating her Nottingham triumph over the top-seeded Pom.

Jackman's win was also in doubt when the younger Grinham came back from two down to lead 3-0 in the fourth. The third seed lobbed and dropped well during this phase and moved excellently all through, requiring the favourite to improve the accuracy of her hitting before she could take advantage of her superior weight of shot.

"I was really pleased and I was also pleased with my movement," reckoned Jackman, who says she never knows till she's got out of bed how her mobility - and her back - will be on any given day.

She had to block out the cool reception being given to the women's matches here and the noisy introduction of celebratory music two points before her victory had been completed. But most importantly she has to ignore that ranking until the final job is done.
 

 
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Now Willstrop beats Power

Nicol v Gaultier

Jackman beats Natalie ...

... but Rachael gets Grainger

sisterly advice

The all-glass court on Kuwait's Green Island
 

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