05/09/2004
Lincou Captures Cathay Pacific Crown
France's Thierry Lincou claimed the biggest title of his career when he beat England's Nick Mattew in straight games in the final in Hong Kong ...
hong kong final
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash
Championship, Hong Kong
Final:
[3] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [8] Nick Matthew (ENG) 11-4, 11-8, 11-10
(3-1) (51min)
Lincou Claims First Hong Kong
Open Title
 Thierry
Lincou, the Franco-Chinese world No3 who first broke into the top
flight of the professional game reaching the final of the 2001 Cathay
Pacific Hong Kong Open Squash Championship - but uniquely achieved a
world No1 ranking earlier this year without actually winning a major
title - today (Sunday) squared the circle of his squash destiny by
winning the 2004 Hong Kong title with a 51-minute 11-4 11-8 11-10
victory over England's eighth seed Nick Matthew.
It was the 22nd time that 28-year-old Lincou had stepped into a PSA
World Tour final but the first time he walked out as winner of a Super
Series ranking event final. He has won tournaments, of course;
the first in the 1996 Tirolean Championships in Austria and the latest
in this year's non-ranking Super Series Finals in London. But
this was the moment he had pursued almost since first becoming a local
hero in Hong Kong in 2001 when he removed the defending champion Peter
Nicol on his way to the final.
"I am just so pleased that I have taken my first Super Series title at
last and that it has happened in front of a Chinese audience in Hong
Kong," said Lincou. "I always feel welcome here and the
spectators always give me such good support. I feel I have won
this for them as much as for myself.
"I have wanted for a long time to go back to the village near Canton in
China where my grandparents lived before they left for Reunion Island
during the Communist revolution. My mother Luk Lan-sun has been
back but this is as close as I have managed so far."
The conversion of the PSA World Tour from 15 point games to 11 point
games started with this Hong Kong Open and was perhaps the key to
Lincou's long awaited breakthrough. He took the Super Series
Finals title last May, when the new scoring was being trialled, and
changed his training to concentrate his established tight rallying and
sharp front court attack into a formidable sustained pressure on his
opponents. "You can officially say that I like the new scoring,"
he said with a smile today.
He defeated Australia's sharp shooting Paul Price, Egypt's World Open
Champion Amr Shabana and England's world No2 Lee Beachill before
shutting the fast-rising Matthew out of the final. "He just
didn't let me in until quite late in the third game," explained the
24-year-old Sheffield-based player.
 "I
have to be pretty pleased with my tournament here. It has taken
me in among the top flight players and into my first Super Series
final. But I have beaten Thierry in the past and I was hoping for
the ultimate success today. He just played too well for that to
happen."
In the final, Lincou wrong-footed Matthew three times in a row to lead
3-1, then forced his way to 10-2 in a single hand in which every point
was won with a different clinical winner as the culmination of crisp
and carefully shaped rallies.
Matthew entered the second game more ambitiously, but his attempts to
wrest the initiative from his opponent ended too often in tinned errors
as he snatched at the Frenchman's fearsome distribution. He stayed in
the race to 8-8, partly thanks to three generous penalty strokes - but
three unforced forehand errors gave the 15-minute game to Lincou.
With legs tiring and speed dropping, the third game was a closer affair
altogether, with Matthew looking capable of carrying the match into at
least a fourth game as he led 6-5 with a confident backhand return of
service straight down the top right-hand nick. But another tinned
error and another penalty stroke for racket swing interference stopped
his advance and, within seconds, the Englishman was 7-9 down.
To his credit Matthew resisted a first match-ball at 8-10 with a fine
long forehand drop to the top right corner and took the game into a
tiebreak with a floating backhand boast that left even the
fasted-footed Frenchman groping for a contact on the ball. But he
hit a forehand out of court to allow a second match-ball and gave away
a last penalty stroke to bring on a third match-ball before watching
the championship fall inevitably to Thierry Lincou as a forehand
crosscourt drive passed him by on its way to the deep left corner.
Semi-Finals:
[8] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [4] David Palmer (AUS) 11-6, 11-10
(3-1), 9-11, 11-9 (59m)
[3] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [2] Lee Beachill (ENG) 11-10 (3-1),
11-6, 3-11, 11-6 (48m)
Quarter-Finals:
[8] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [16] Adrian Grant (ENG) 7-11, 11-5,
11-8, 11-10 (3-1) (56m)
[4] David Palmer (AUS) bt [6] Jonathon Power (CAN) 11-9, 8-11, 11-5,
11-10 (5-3) (55m)
[3] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [7] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-5, 6-11,
11-1, 11-6 (33m)
[2] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [5] John White (SCO) 9-11, 8-11, 11-10
(2-0), 11-10 (3-1), 11-5 (67m)
Second Round:
16] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [1] Peter Nicol (ENG) 9-11, 11-5, 11-10
(2-0), 8-11, 11-6 (53m)
[8] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [10] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 11-7, 6-11, 8-11,
11-3, 11-7 (83m)
[4] David Palmer (AUS) bt [Q] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 10-11
(0-2), 11-4, 11-5, 11-9 (30m)
[6] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [11] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) 11-2, 11-9,
11-10 (8-6) (55m)
[7] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [13] James Willstrop (ENG) 5-11, 4-11, 11-9,
11-6, 11-8 (49m)
[3] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Paul Price (AUS) 11-9, 11-7, 11-6
(32m)
[5] John White (SCO) bt Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 11-4, 11-5, 11-10 (3-1) (34m)
[2] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [9] Karim Darwish (EGY) 11-9, 10-11 (0-2),
11-7, 11-6 (43m)
1st round
[1] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Wai Hang Wong (HKG) 11/4,
11/8, 8/11, 11/5 (38m)
[16] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [Q] Mohd Azlan Iskandar
(MAS) 8/11, 8/11, 11/6, 11/8, 11/8 (53m)
[8] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Dan Jenson (AUS) 11/8, 11/9,
11/10 (2-0) (49m)
[10] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Bradley Ball (ENG) 11/10
(3-1), 11/8, 11/3 (39m)
[4] David Palmer (AUS) bt [Q] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11/8, 11/7,
8/11, 10/11 (0-2), 11/6 (53m)
[Q] Hisham Ashour (EGY) bt [14] Omar Elborolossy
(EGY) 9/11, 11/3, 11/6, 9/11, 11/3 (39m)
[6] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [Q] Phillip Barker (ENG) 11/3, 11/10
(0-2), 11/8, 11/5 (34m)
[11] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) bt Graham Ryding (CAN) 11/8, 5/11, 7/11,
11/8, 11/7 (50m)
[13] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Renan Lavigne (FRA) 11-4, 11-10
(2-0), 11-5 (27m)
[7] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [Q] Simon Parke (ENG) 11-9, 11-8, 11-3
(38m)
Paul Price (AUS) bt [12] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) 11-4, 10-11
(0-2), 11-8, 9-11, 11-4 (58m)
[3] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [Q] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) 11-4, 11-7,
11-2 (22m)
Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt [15] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 6-11, 11-8, 11-7,
4-11, 11-8 (56m)
[5] John White (SCO) bt [Q] Peter Barker (ENG) 11-8, 11-2, 5-11,
11-8 (35m)
[9] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Mansoor Zaman (PAK) 11-8, 11-5, 11-4
(19m)
[2] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt Mark Chaloner (ENG) 11-8, 11-6,
11-5 (28m)
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