[8] Joe Kneipp (Aus) bt [Q] Alex Stait (Eng)
       10/11(0-2), 11/1, 11/6, 11/7 (50m)

GUTSY STAIT GOES OUT SCREAMING!

Englishman Alex Stait must me soooo relieved. For the past seven months, he must have feared that his competitive squash days were over ... A meniscus problem in one knee, removed, only to suffer the same pain in the other knee only four weeks ago...

Not good.

So his remarkable performance in his two qualifying rounds and against world number 15 Australian Joe Kneipp must be like honey on my buttered toast at breakfast: sweet and comforting!

Alex gave Joe a good fright today, as those two gave us an excellent opening game to a very much awaited English Open. Alex started out strong indeed, rallies were long and intense, although the Australian was leading from 5/5 onward to set up game ball at 10/7.

And that's when 'Gutsy Stait' used most of the juice he had left from his two marathons of the previous day to force a tie-break and clinch the first game, transforming his first and only game ball of the match, much to the surprise of us all...

Well advised by brother Danny, Kneipp came back calmer, reassured and focused. An exhausted Englishman fought his best to match Joe's talent and pressure, but the result of the match seemed a bit too obvious for Stait's liking, who showed signs of frustration as unforced errors crept in, damaging his rhythm and pace...

Finally, after a good first game fright, Joe Kneipp now meets The Boss, and knows that he will have to step up the pace to compete with a reborn-refreshed Living Legend, Mr Peter Nicol. But then again, Joe is always at his best when he's got nothing to lose...

[3] Peter Nicol (Eng) bt Simon Parke (Eng)
     11/8, 11/2, 11/8 (43m)

INCISIVE BOSS DOMINATES PARKIE



It's official ... 'Sir' Simon Parke is a lunatic.

The way he ran today, the way he gave it all and more than that, the way he kept on attacking, and fighting as he was being manipulated and pushed around by Mr Peter Nicol shows that the man is not well ...

Not well, maybe, but strong minded, gutsy and determined, that's for sure ...

Today, all of Peter's shots were potentially lethal, and although Parke played very well, Nicol's balls were that much more precise, incisive, sharp ... length, angle, weight, direction ... Just too good.

And Parkie ran, ran, ran, until, slightly less fit than he was last summer, he just run out of steam.

The Boss is strong, the Boss is willing, the Boss is on his way...

Look out, world, Nicol is not retiring ...

"I’m moving well, the first match is always very important for me, it allows me to evaluate how well I’m moving… "My length was good, excellent at times… But most of all, Simon and myself have quite physical games, so it was important that my movement was in place… "My initial motivation to go back to serious training was the World Team event and the Commonwealth Games, but as I was training, I find myself wanting to go back to the top, to the world number one position, and that’s what I’m going to concentrating on in the next two years…" Peter Nicol

Olli Tuominen (Fin) bt [2] David Palmer (Aus)
     11/8, 11/10(6-4), 7/11, 11/8 (81m)

UNEXPECTED…

Not disrespect to Olli, but that was not the result I anticipated… And I was really surprised when I saw David Palmer struggling in the first game against the Wonder Finn Olli Tuominen…

But then again, I was so used to the “favourite” getting into trouble in the first game after the qualifiers’ matches I witnessed that I really didn’t think anything of it…

I started to be a bit more concerned in the second rally of the second game, when after only a few shots, David mis-hit a simple backhand cross court.

That’s not his style. Then I knew the Marine, as Robert Edwards calls him, was in trouble…

Now, the second game was 34 minutes… A long, tense game, very very close: 1/1, 2/2, 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9, 10/10, 11/11, 12/12, 13/13, 14/14. How much closer can you get??? In that game, Dave had two game balls, Olli four. Suspense was high, let me tell you.

Now, let’s talk about the difficult part. The ref part. I’m sure by now you’ve heard about it… Yes, David discussed a few points, but to be fair, so did Olli, to the point where the ref had to say “please cut out the comments, Mr Tuominen”…

Palmer was obviously not happy with a number of decisions. What needs to be noticed and stressed, is that at no point in the match did David raise his voice, or challenge the referee's decisions. He was never rude, he was never aggressive, he was at no point out of order.

And that proves that David has worked on his feisty temper, that he has learnt from past mistakes, and that his team and he should be happy that the Marine is on the right tracks indeed…

End of chapter.

After winning the second game, that would prove in retrospect determinant, Olli quite rightly, truly believed that he could win the encounter, and went on matching the Strong Man point per point up to 5/5. Then physically cracked under the relentless hammering of the Australian who seemed at last to be his normal self.

“That’s it”, I thought, “Olli is dead”…

Once again, the French Woman proved totally wrong, as in the fourth, Olli was still standing, still fighting, still leading…

“Well, he is doing an awful lot of running for a dead corpse,” I heard myself saying…

No, today was Olli’s day. He had the belief, he had the will, he had the heart, three elements that David desperately lacked, and the Fin truly deserves a victory that he worked very hard to get…

"I just had a bad day. Olli played well, but I don’t think he changed anything in his game in particular; maybe he made less unforced errors than he may sometimes make, but really, I was obviously slow, I found it hard to fight today… "Sitting down here, after the event, I think that if I had won the second game (which I feel that I won several times actually…), maybe I would have been able to get in it a bit more…. "But I have no explanation really, only that that place doesn’t agree with me… I just want to go home now… Mind you, better lose in the first tournament of the year than in the middle of the season… "I’m going to concentrate on the tournaments in November/December, as there are three very important events in a very short period. And I’m also going to St Louis in September. So I’m just going to put this behind me and concentrate on things to come…" David Palmer

[6] John White (Aus) bt Mansoor Zaman (Pak)
     9/11, 11/4, 11/7, 11/4 (38m)

HAPPY WHITE, IMPROVED MANSOOR

Although Mansoor Zaman lost today, he gave us a good performance, that makes up for his pitiful appearance last year, in a first round match that was without a doubt the quickest ever match of the event ...

Coached in Pakistan by Jamshed Gul, and supported and advised in the UK by Mo Yasin, Mansoor did well today, threatening the Tall Man John White by clinching the first game 11/9.

After the amazing match between Palmer and Olli, where the rallies were super long and constructed, this match seemed a bit 'not really thought through'. We have a slight the impression that those two were playing the first shot that came into their minds, no real game plan, no real construction ...

But Mansoor worked hard to try to contain John's constant attacks, and should be happy with his performance. From the Australian's point of view, that was probably the best possible start in the event: a good first game, 40 minutes workout, a day of rest tomorrow, and Friday, the Australian-Killer, Olli Tuominen ...