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 Day THREE:
Quarter-Finals
No-one nowadays expects less than
exceptional squash on quarter-finals day at PSA events and the sold out
crowd at the magnificent Wintergarden in Canary Wharf last night was
treated to a feast indeed.
 James
Willstrop and Karim Darwish were first on, two players with classic
technique and racket ability, both former world junior champions, of
whom much has been and is still expected.
Darwish, two years older, hasn't quite lived up to the best
expectations, but there is still time and he began well, winning the
first game as Willstrop settled. The Englishman then took control to
lead deservedly 2-1, looking the probable winner. At six-all in the
fourth he fell quite heavily and on resumption Darwish went to 9-6 very
quickly and then levelled at two-all. He then became the likelier winner
as Willstrop appeared to tire and lost shape. Darwish took the fifth
well to set up an intriguing semi-final against Anthony Ricketts, who
was to prevail later.
 Peter
Nicol, a main part of the Eventis team who run this event and the
English Open, no doubt had his eye on winning at Canary Wharf to
supplement his success at The Crucible last August and he went
comfortably through to the semi-finals beating Lee Beachill, whose
exertions in Manchester last weekend in the British Championships had
taken their toll.
Beachill hit the ball well, but in truth there was nothing in his legs
and Nicol was always going to win without killing himself. He is looking
dangerous, with Thierry Lincou as his semi-final opponent.
Plenty to satisfy the full house to date, but Anthony Ricketts and
Gregory Gaultier, the new French champion, provided the match of the
championship with a full-blooded encounter in which the Australian edged
home on a tie-break, having first served at 10-7 for the match.
 These
are two of the best athletes on the tour and let no-one underrate the
quality of their squash. Gaultier moves economically, uses the whole
wall and changes pace as well as anyone ion the game; Ricketts may be
underrated as a player - he puts the ball in all the right places and
never relents.
Not only that, the match was played in commendable spirit and advertised
all that is admirable in the men's world game at present.
How much Ricketts will have left tonight remains to be seen. Darwish's
win was tiring enough, but he played earlier and has an advantage in
view of last night. Having said that, Ricketts backs up as well as
anyone.
 The
late, late show - Ricketts v Gaultier went on late and lasted 105
minutes - was between Thierry Lincou and Alex Gough. As Alex says after
10.30 is past his bedtime these days and he was about to kick off at
that time.
Lincou was unruffled and he has bogeyman Nicol next - a prospect
he will relish less than his opponent.
I make Ricketts and Nicol marginal favourites for tonight's showdowns
and I have a strange feeling that the maestro - Peter Nicol - is
fancying his chances of lifting the trophy. Not to say the others are
not, of course!
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Day TWO:
Round One, Part Two
Lee
Beachill, unlike the unfortunate Nick Matthew, had at least had a day
to recover from Sunday's extreme exertions and he had no great trouble in
disposing of wildcard Ben Garner 3-0, even though Garner had moments in
the first and never stopped trying.
Beachill moved well enough, his finishing was clinical and he squeezed
errors out of his opponent every so often. He may well come up with
another performance against Peter Nicol tonight. Whatever, it should be
worth watching.
 James
Willstrop was second on against Pakistan no 1 Shahid Zaman. The
English no 1 had trouble getting round the burly Zaman and by his
standards he was a little edgy in the first. He won it though, and never
looked like losing even if he never looked comfortable. The second and
third were both tie-breaks, the third being 16/14, and no doubt he was
glad to get off court.
Thierry Lincou made his first appearance in the tournament against
Peter Barker, who was on the recovery trail after a broken ankle. England
could do with Barker making the grade and to his credit he performed very
well against the recently deposed world no 1.
Lincou won a well-contested first, but Barker, who is a fine athlete, was
playing with some assurance and did well to level the match at one all.
The Essex man held Lincou to well into the second half of the third, but
the Frenchman drew clear, aided by unforced errors from Barker.
Lincou will be happy he doesn't have Nick Matthew next and Barker will be
encouraged by his performance.
Gregory Gaultier, the new French National champion, had no trouble
in disposing of Jonathan Kemp and he has top seed Anthony Ricketts as his
quarter-final opponent. That should be a match to watch.
Big Day for Squash
It has been a big day for squash with Betfair, the major online betting
firm offering betting on squash for the first time, and large crowds
enjoying the play at Canary Wharf.
I have no doubt we will all look back on this historic day and realise how
significant betting is for the profile of the sport.
Day ONE:
Matthew Mastered ...
Having
watched an exceptional British Men's final in which Nick Mathew won a
quite remarkable match to become champion, I feared for him when I heard
that he would be playing in the ISS Canary Wharf Squash Classic at 9pm the
following evening.
How could any human being play 105 minutes of world class squash, emerge
victorious, feel the euphoria of such a success and then travel to London
and play the next night.
 Alex
Gough, even at the ripe old age of 35, is still performing and he is
astute enough to know when he has a chance. He must surely have seen it as
a heaven-sent opportunity, just as Nick must have wondered what he had
done to deserve such a fate.
No more than I expected, no more than was reasonable in the circumstances,
Nick went down, though he nearly won the third.
I hope that the experience did not deflect from his outstanding
achievement in Manchester on Sunday and back home in Sheffield, he still
retains the joy he must surely have felt then.
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