Ian McKenzie reports from Broadgate
RICKETTS WINS
'ALL-AUSSIE' MARATHON
Australia’s No.6 Seed Anthony Ricketts overcame Scotland’s John White, the
No.3 Seed, in the final match of the evening to sit alongside Power at the
top of the Harrow Group after day 1 of the Finals.
In a pulsating 87–minute encounter, Ricketts twice came
back from a game behind to claim a 14/17, 15/12, 9/15, 15/7, 15/11 victory.
IT'S OK ... SAYS POWER
"It was OK," said Jonathon Power after seeing off a spirited challenge from
Ong Beng Hee, who has looked rather jaded over the last year or so but put
up a refreshingly spirited performance here.
"I lapsed in the second. I'm in good shape but perhaps a bit rusty. I've
been training," Power added.
This was a pretty good performance from Power in a match disrupted by a
lightning strike as the freezing weather in London broke into a thunder
storm.
"Can you do something about that," said Power jokingly, but referee Jill
Wood, who was given another shot at refereeing him after the tempestuous
semi-final with David Palmer in 2001, had her hands full anyway. There were
a number of conduct warnings one for using the F word - "Francis" - his
mother's name who, according to Power, he called upon when he was in
difficulties.
Referee Wood heard differently. And one for throwing his
racket down the court after an attacking shot from Beng Hee that he was not
going to get near.
This was a speedy encounter with a ball that was much livelier than the dead
one Nicol was dealt. There were plenty of front court exchanges with Power
instinctively knowing when his swishing shots had restricted his opponent's
options and he moved into the gaps to narrow the distance from the ball and
intercept both short and long. Power hogged the T, tried as always to
recover in front of his opponent when he could, with a fair bit if
interference created, and it was the unenviable task for Beng Hee to try get
in front.
His was a creditable challenge but at the end Power had
most of it covered. Power should improve with matches here. He looks in good
shape.
NICOL COUNTERS
ON COOL COURT
Peter Nicol was comfortable enough against team-mate Lee Beachill, going
ahead 15-11, 15-12 as the temperature continued to drop at the Broadgate
Arena, to something near 5 degrees.
In the third however the match changed. Beachill moved better, got forward
and volleyed more, and almost imperceptibly Nicol was in trouble.
"I didn't respond in the third and fourth. I tried to hit hard on a dead
court," he said.
Beachill was able to stop his opponent's movement with his early swing and
hold, punched balls past his static opponent, and hit his deadly volleys
with more confidence to level 8-15, 5-15.
Nicol had suffered defeat to Beachill when he had been on the wrong end of
runs of almost unplayable winners in the past, and that fear raced through
his mind here.
"It was in my mind what he could do and how dangerous he can be," said
Nicol. "I had to concentrate on getting him back."
Nicol did that at the end. He had the best of the bounce and the calls to
give him the crucial edge at the start of the the fifth and persisted with
his length to get his opponent back and frustrate him. In the end Beachill
was tired. It was his first match back without a boot on his ankle and he is
perhaps not yet at his best.
Beachill can still make the semi-finals, but he will have to beat Martin
Heath on Tuesday and Thierry Lincou on Wednesday.
ERROR-PRONE LINCOU
MUST DO BETTER ...
Thierry Lincou, the 2002 finalist, started comfortably
enough to establish a 7-4 lead in the first game against the Scottish
champion Martin Heath, a substitute for the absent David Palmer, but it all
drifted away in error prone play for Heath to take the first game 15-10.
So often did the French champion clip the tin that it
seemed to grow in stature so much that at
the end of the match one journalist slipped onto court to make a crude
measurement of the tin height with his pad - longways then sideways
necessary, it seems, as there was not a ruler to be had in the whole square
mile.
The rough assessment was that the tin height was closer to
18 than 17 inches, although from Lincou's performance it could have been a
couple of feet high. The French champion kept hitting it with such frequency
that Heath, the world no.15, was well in contention at one game all and 11
all.
Another couple of tins from Lincou gave Heath 13-11 but
Lincou then took charge on his volley, his best attribute of the night, and
ran out the game 15-12.
Five points in a hand from 1-2 to 6-2 halted Heath's
challenge in the fourth and Lincou went through 10-15, 15-10, 15-13, 15-6.
Lincou will have to improve on this however is if he is to trouble Nicol and
the third ranked player in his group, Lee Beachill, to earn a semi-final
place.
"I wasn’t very confident today, I was a bit nervous," said
Lincou. "I have to get used to the court and the atmosphere and hopefully
I’ll play a lot better."
Heath was "pretty disappointed. I felt as though I was playing alright. I
was leading in the third game. I’ve now got to win the next couple of
matches to get through to the semis. I feel the way I’m playing I should be
winning these kind of matches."
|
"Can you do something
about that?"
Jonathon Power
Harvey congratulates Nicol
"That was hard work!
After the fourth game I just wanted to get off court and get focussed
again."
Peter Nicol
Gallery 2003
"I wasn’t very confident
today, I was a bit nervous."
Thierry Lincou
"I feel the way I’m playing
I should be winning these
kind of matches."
Martin Heath |