Reports Lincou
Triumphs As Palmer Chokes In Liverpool 08 Final
France's Thierry Lincou claimed one of the most
dramatic victories of his career when he fought back from
two games down to defeat Australian favourite David
Palmer in the final of the Liverpool 08 Open Squash
Championship at St George's Hall in the heart
of Merseyside.
The 83-minute encounter provided a sensational climax to
the international squash circuit's richest ranking event
in England for five years, which attracted a star-studded
field for the first ever major event on Merseyside to be
played on a state-of-the-art all-glass court.
In a notable breakthrough for the inaugural event, staged
to highlight Liverpool's status as the 2008 European
Capital of Culture, the final was broadcast live on
Sky TV.
Palmer, who boasts a 7/2 head-to-head career against the
Frenchman, started off at a blistering pace taking the
first game after 11 minutes. In the second, Palmer
led 9-6, but Lincou caught up to earn the first game ball.
Palmer, however, saved it and went on to extend his lead
to 2/0 by winning the tie-break.
The 30-year-old world No3 from Marseille adopted a
completely different tactic in the third, mixing up the
pace and clearly unsettling his opponent. Lincou
took the game to reduce Palmer's advantage, but the
29-year-old from New South Wales raced to a 5-0, then 8-5,
lead in the fourth and again it looked as if the title
was heading to Australia.
But in a single hand, Lincou secured the game to draw
level and 19 minutes later, in a fifth game decider in
which Palmer was awarded a conduct stroke against him for
hurling his racket out of the court in frustration, the
Frenchman raised his hand in triumph in celebration of a
remarkable 3-11, 10-11 (0-2), 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 victory in
83 minutes.
"That was the worst choke of my life, without doubt" said
a despondent Palmer afterwards. "It's ridiculous to
lose from that position but all credit to Thierry,"
added Palmer who, in his 40th international
final, had never before lost after winning the first two
games.
Despite the final lacking any home interest, Lincou
surprisingly acknowledged help from his great rival
Peter Nicol, the Englishman who topped the world
rankings for 60 months and won two Commonwealth Games
gold medals in Melbourne in March.
"After losing the first two games, I thought about what
Peter Nicol would do at this stage he has staged some
fantastic comebacks, lobbing the ball and trying to break
up the pace.
"Peter is so clever he has this capacity to drive me
crazy and gets me really frustrated, so I thought I would
try and do this to David!" said the victorious Frenchman
afterwards.
"But at the beginning of the game, I just couldn't handle
the pace that David was playing at he was so quick on
the ball."
The Liverpool Open 08 Championship, presented jointly by
Squash UK and the Liverpool Culture Company,
was conceived to celebrate "Liverpool Performs" year the
third themed year in the build up to 2008 when the
Merseyside city is the European Capital of Culture.
The year focuses on sport and arts and presented
alongside one of the biggest international squash events
of the year were performances by rock band Lost for
Words (featuring squash players Lee Beachill
and James Willstrop); dance company X-TENSION;
samba reggae band Batala; and keyboard player
Peter Olude.
"The Liverpool 08 Open gave us a perfect opportunity to
bring together sport and arts in an iconic venue," said
John Moore, Creative Sports Manager for the Liverpool
Culture Company.
"The event has been a huge success beyond our
expectations. And today's final was just the icing
on the cake, a simply magnificent climax to a great week
at St Georges Hall.
Tournament promoter Alan Thatcher added: "I'm sure
that this match will be talked about in and around the
city of Liverpool for months to come with the result
that fans will be clamouring to have the event brought
back again to St George's Hall in a year's time."
Palmer Denies Beachill Liverpool Final Berth
Australia's David Palmer dashed hopes of a home
finalist in the biggest ranking event in England for five
years when he beat Yorkshire's Lee Beachill in four
games in the semi-finals of the Liverpool 08 Open
Squash Championship at St George's Hall in the
heart of Merseyside.
Event favourite Palmer was in blistering form in the first
game to take the early advantage. But Beachill, the
fifth seed who is rediscovering his form after dropping to
a four-year low world No11 this week, bounced back to draw
level.
Admitting later that he wrongly pushed too hard in the
second game, Palmer refocused in the third and ultimately
strode to an 11-9, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6 victory in 57 minutes.
"I didn't play badly, but he played more winning shots
against me than he's ever done before " which shows how
relaxed he is and how well he's playing at the moment,"
conceded Beachill, the 28-year-old former world No1 from
Pontefract.
"We've had a lot of very hard matches over recent years,
and some which were not very good to watch, but tonight's
was a very good match, with very few incidents," explained
the Englishman.
"He played well " but then he had to beat me."
Palmer agreed that winning the first game had been
crucial. "I had a really good start " which was important
as to have had to come back after losing the first game
would have been tough.
"Over the past six months or so, Lee seems to be making
more errors than he used to " in the middle of the third
and fourth games he gave me some easy points," added the
29-year-old from Lithgow in New South Wales, also a former
world No1.
"But I've sensed a keenness in his approach here in
Liverpool," said Palmer. "But he always plays well
in England, he's always more tough to beat at home."
In the 40th major final of his career, Palmer
goes on to face Frenchman Thierry Lincou, the third
seed who beat Egyptian Karim Darwish 11-8, 5-11,
11-10 (2-0), 11-6 in the other semi-final.
Lincou resisted a spirited fight back by eighth seed
Egypt's Karim Darwish, winning in four games to
reach his 30th major international final.
The former world No1 from Marseille took early control of
the match on the all-glass court at St George's Hall to
open up a 1/0 lead after 15 minutes. But Darwish
romped away with the second game and quickly established a
9-3 lead in the third.
The 24-year-old underdog from Cairo, who has lost all of
the previous five PSA Tour encounters with Lincou,
soon reached game ball at 10-6 " one point away from a
two-games-to-one lead.
But in a classic do-or-die effort from the Frenchman,
Lincou kept up the pressure, saving three game balls
before converting his own in the tie-break. Lincou
led throughout the fourth before clinching his 11-8, 5-11,
11-10 (2-0), 11-6 victory in 60 minutes.
"He's improved a lot over the past six months " with some
good scalps and a good run of results," said Lincou of the
world number ten. "He's certainly capable of beating
anyone " and even though our previous record was in his
favour, I knew it wasn't going to be an easy match.
"I feel I played the right shots at the right time,
particularly from the third game onwards, but I got tired
and had to slow the pace down.
"I had to keep the play on his back hand as he's got such
a strong forehand," added Lincou, the world No3.
A despondent Darwish felt he didn't deserve to win:
"I was controlling the game at one point, but then he
began to play so well, getting everything back. I
was just in too much of a hurry.
"After that my brain went," added the Egyptian.
Quarter-finals
Willstrop Wiped Out
By Devilish Darwish
Hopes of an English finalist from the bottom half
of the Liverpool 08 Open Squash Championship
draw were dashed today (Friday) when Egypt's
Karim Darwish upset second-seeded
Yorkshireman James Willstrop at St
George's Hall in the heart of Merseyside.
Darwish, the No8 seed, was in devastating form as
he defeated the lacklustre England number one
11-10 (2-0), 11-3, 11-8 in 43 minutes, later
declaring it to be "one of my best ever
performances."
A surprisingly relaxed Willstrop afterwards
conceded that he simply wasn't able to make enough
impression on the encounter. "I can't really
explain it, I'm not unhappy with my game, but I
just wasn't right mentally.
"Karim outlasted me and demoralised me, he was
just too good," said the 22-year-old from
Pontefract who celebrated a career-high world No2
ranking last December.
Darwish was delighted with his approach to the
match: "I always feel I struggle with James,
but today I was really focussed on winning.
"I was pretty confident, my shots were great and I
felt I was controlling the match," said the
24-year-old from Cairo who last week won the
Egyptian national title for the second time.
Darwish will meet Thierry Lincou in
Saturday's first semi-final after the third-seeded
Frenchman gained revenge for his unexpected defeat
by Gregory Gaultier in the French National
Championship final in February by beating his
fellow countryman in the day's opening match.
But it wasn't achieved in the style he would have
liked, as Gaultier, after taking the second game
to draw level with his higher-ranked French
team-mate - fell awkwardly in the first rally of
the fourth game and badly twisted his ankle.
After an 11-minute injury break, it was clear that
the 23-year-old No7 seed was not going to be able
to carry on, and duly conceded the match
11-5, 4-11, 11-3, 0-0 (ret.) to
Lincou after
66 minutes.
Olli Tuominen,
the Finn who caused the tournament's first upset
when he beat Scotland's sixth seed John White
in the previous round, was unable to produce the
same giant-killing display in the quarter-finals
against top seed David Palmer.
After losing the first game, the ninth seed from
Helsinki fought back from 5-8 down in the second
to lead 9-8, then had the first game ball in the
tie-break. But Palmer ultimately clinched
the game to go 2/0 up, then ran away from 7-all in
the third to take the match 11-6, 11-10 (4-2),
11-7 in 44 minutes.
It was sweet revenge for the 29-year-old
Australian from Lithgow in New South Wales who
suffered a shock defeat to the Finn in their last
meeting, in the first round of the English Open
in August 2005.
The final match of the day saw a significant
renaissance for fifth seed Lee Beachill whobeat his England team-mate and fellow
Yorkshireman Nick Matthew in a decisive
straight games encounter.
Beachill, the three-times British National
champion from Pontefract who lost his title to
Matthew in February in his record sixth successive
appearance in the final, has suffered mixed
fortunes over the past year, a fact cruelly marked
by a drop to 11 in the world rankings this month,
his first absence from the top ten for four years.
"But even when I walked on court, I was so
confident about winning," said the 28-year-old
after his 11-4, 11-8, 11-2 triumph over fifth seed
Matthew in 39 minutes, the shortest quarter-final
of the day.
"I seemed to just get out of the habit of winning
over the last year or so, but tonight I played
some really good squash, pushing Nick hard, then
capitalising on his errors," said a buoyant
Beachill.
"If I continue to play like that, I feel I can
beat anyone in the world."
A despondent Matthew admitted that he was almost
embarrassed by the way he played in parts of the
game: "I felt as if I hardly broke sweat,"
said the 25-year-old who is four positions higher
than his opponent in the world order.
"He's clearly got his appetite back, but I really
wanted to go out on a high in the last ranking
event of the season, but Lee just didn't let me.
If you want to be the best in the world, you can't
afford to play like that," conceded Matthew.
Beachill will face Palmer in Saturday's second
semi-final at 6.00pm, which will be broadcast live
on Sky TV.
Flying Finn Flays Scot At St George's
Hall
Finland's Olli Tuominen produced the first upset
in two days of the Liverpool 08 Open Squash
Championship when he despatched Scotland's sixth
seed John White in today's (Thursday) second
round at St George's Hall in the heart of
Merseyside.
White, one of four former world number ones competing in
the international squash circuit's richest ranking event
in England for five years, is renowned as the hardest
hitters of the ball " with a world record 172 mph smash
to his name!
But the flying Finn from Helsinki matched White shot for
shot - and after 49 minutes wrapped up the shock 11-7,
11-6, 11-10 (2-0) win which takes the ninth seed into a
surprise quarter-final.
"I really saw the opportunity," said the smiling
Tuominen, who admitted that the head-to-head record
between the pair was relatively even. "I had a
good run in last week's European Championships " and
that was ideal preparation for this event at St George's
Hall."
The 27-year-old world No14 spends most of his training
time in Helsinki. "It may not be where a lot of
squash players are based " but it's home," explained
Tuominen.
His next opponent will be the PSA Super Series
event's top seed David Palmer, the world No2 from
Australia. The experienced three-times British
Open
faced the event's only teenager, 18-year-old world
junior champion Ramy Ashour.
The remarkably assured Ashour seemed far from overawed
by the highest-ranked player he had ever faced on a
court, but Palmer soon imposed his authority on the
match and cleaned up 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 in 32 minutes.
"I knew he was going to be sharp from the start, he's a
great shot player and moves well - in fact, for 18, he's
unbelievable," said Palmer, 29, from New South Wales.
"If he was smart, he would look at Shabana's game " his
improved length and fitness are what have made him the
player he is today. Ramy will be in the world top
ten, one day, for sure " but he'll get there a lot
quicker if he models himself on his countryman."
Ashour was disappointed with his performance: "I
wasn't patient enough " I just wasn't playing well
enough today. But wait till the World Open in
September by the pyramids in my home country. I'll
do well there " I promise!"
Earlier in the day, England's second seed James
Willstrop struggled to a four-game victory over 14th
seed Shahid Zaman, then admitted: "He's
tricky " I donβt enjoy playing the guy."
The England number one seemed to be cruising to a
straight games win over Zaman when the Pakistan number
one took the upper hand in the third game.
"I just went dull " my game lacked sparkle - I was a bit
loose," said the 22-year-old from Pontefract who went on
to win 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4 in 48 minutes.
Willstrop, who led England to success in last week's
European Team Championship title in Austria, will
meet Egypt's Karim Darwish for a place in the
last four of the international circuit's richest ranking
event in England for five years.
Darwish, the eighth seed, ended hopes of an all-English
quarter-final when he beat 16th seed Peter
Barker 11-10 (3-1), 11-6, 11-5 in 37 minutes.
The Egyptian beat Willstrop the last time they met, in
the Canary Wharf Classic in London in February.
"Karim's in great shape at the moment, so I'm going to
have to be on top of my game to beat him," conceded
Yorkshireman Willstrop.
Two marathon encounters earlier set up an all-French
quarter-final on Friday. Seventh seed Gregory
Gaultier, from Aix-en-Provence,beat
Australia's 12th seed Stewart Boswell
11-6 11-9 11-6 in 63 minutes, and Marseille's third seed
Thierry Lincou recovered from a game down to
overcome Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee 5-11, 11-8,
11-10 (3-1), 11-8 in 76 minutes.
Beng Hee, the tenth seed who is enjoying something of a
renaissance since plunging out of the top 20 after
reaching a career-high world No7 five years ago, was
pleased with his performance against Lincou, the new
world No3.
"Not winning is a bit of a disappointment, but I really
felt I pushed him " and if I can play like that again,
I'd be quite happy," said the 26-year-old from Kuala
Lumpur.
Gaultier, the fast-improving French number two, had to
battle hard to keep Boswell at bay. The
27-year-old from Canberra fought back from 299 to 20 in
the world rankings in 2005 after a long layoff with a
mystery back ailment. In the past five months, his
progress has been somewhat slower, to 15 in the world.
"I need to improve some things if I'm going to play at
that level," said Boswell after his Gaultier defeat.
"I feel as if I'm playing to top 16, but the next level
just isn't happening for me at the moment."
Gaultier added: "I knew I had to play at a fast
pace today. But I'm confident with my skills " I didn't
ever have my head down, I was feeling strong throughout
the match."
He and Lincou meet on Friday for the first time since
Gaultier claimed his first victory over his fellow
countryman in February's French National championship
final. "I consider Greg first as a friend, and
secondly as a good player in the world's top eight.
It's logical that meetings between us will happen more
and more."
England team-mates and fellow Yorkshiremen Nick
Matthew and Lee Beachill secured the final
two quarter-final places at the end of the evening's
second round session. Matthew, the fourth seed
from Sheffield, beat compatriot Adrian Grant, the
11th
seed from London, 11-9, 11-8, 4-11, 11-10 (3-1) in 68
minutes, while Beachill, the fifth seed from Pontefract,
defeated Welsh number one Alex Gough 11-6 11-7
11-5.
England Team-Mates Through, But Matthew Stretched In Liverpool
Just four days after securing the European Team Championship
title in Austria, England team-mates James Willstrop,
Peter Barker, Nick Matthew and Lee Beachill
successfully negotiated their first round opposition in the
Liverpool 08 Open Squash Championship,the
international squash circuit's richest ranking event in England
for five years.
Staged in the spectacular St George's Hall in the heart
of Liverpool, the PSA Super Series championship has
attracted a star-studded field for the first ever major event on
Merseyside to be played on a state-of-the-art all-glass court.
Nick Matthew, the British national champion from Sheffield, was
taken the full distance by newly-crowned Italian champion
Davide Bianchetti before prevailing in 83 minutes the
longest match of the day.
The 25-year-old Yorkshireman recovered from a game down to take
a 2/1 lead then squandered leads of 6-2 and 9-6 in the fourth
to allow Bianchetti to force the match into a fifth game
decider.
It was nip and tuck throughout the game before Matthew, the
fourth seed, took the final three points in a row to claim his
7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7 win.
"Davide was quite consistent, and plays better on a glass court
than he used to," said the world No7 afterwards. "I felt I
was playing all right, but only in patches. All the
ingredients were there, but not all at once."
Willstrop, the No2 seed from Pontefract, beat Indian qualifier
Ritwik Bhattacharya 11-10 (3-1), 11-10 (3-1), 11-5 in 39
minutes, then declared that the game could not have been more
different than those last week in Vienna.
"It's like tennis players going from clay to grass it becomes
almost a different sport," explained the 22-year-old
Yorkshireman, comparing the difference between the all-glass
court and the conventional plaster courts on which the European
championships were played.
"I was a bit rusty to start with, and the first two games were
close - but then I got into a better rhythm.
"But St George's Hall is a spectacular setting we're lucky to
be able to stage squash events in sensational buildings.
That's the beauty of the game, you can put a glass court almost
wherever you want."
Peter Barker, the 22-year-old from Upminster in Essex who made
his England debut in last week's European Championships, beat
Australia's experienced former world No10 Joseph Kneipp
11-3, 11-6, 11-7 in 31 minutes.
France's Thierry Lincou, one of four former world number
ones in the Liverpool field, continued where he left off in the
European Championships with another win over an Englishman.
The 30-year-old from Marseille defeated England No1 James
Willstrop in a hard-fought European final, then enjoyed a more
straightforward 11-8, 11-2, 11-6 win over Surrey qualifier
Stacey Ross at St George's Hall.
"It's always good beating an Englishman," said the world No3
afterwards quickly adding "in a team competition," when
mindful of possible misinterpretation by the largely English
inquisitors!
In the final match of the day, Yorkshireman fifth seed Lee
Beachill completed the quartet of England team winners when he
beat Australia's Cameron Pilley 11-5, 11-4, 5-11, 11-2 in
49 minutes.
Upsets Abound In Liverpool 08 Open Qualifying Finals
Upsets littered the final qualifying sessions at the
Liverpool Cricket Club on Merseyside as seven
Englishmen and players from a further eight countries battled for
places in the main draw of the Liverpool 08 Open Squash
Championship.
The international squash circuit's richest ranking event in
England for five years gets underway tomorrow (Wednesday) at St
George's Hall in Liverpool, leading to the final on Sunday (7
May). The PSA Super Series championship, boasting a
$77,500 prize fund, has attracted a star-studded field for the
first ever major event on Merseyside to be played on a
state-of-the-art all-glass court.
