Bad day for World champions

By Raju Chainani

HURGHADA, APRIL 18. It was 'Australia Day' at the waterfront as the men's and women's World squash champions bit the dust on Tuesday. David Palmer was 8-12 down in the decider against Peter Nicol but bludgeoned his way to a famous victory. Palmer's 12-15, 15-10, 12-15, 15-8, 15- 13 win spanned 107 minutes and gave him a semifinal against Simon Parke.

Parke took 74 minutes to thwart the challenge of his English colleague, Paul Johnson, the 12-15, 15-6, 15-10, 11-15, 15-7 scoreline indicating a sense of fatigue in the concluding stages. The second semifinal of the PSA Masters features world number one Jonathon Power and Asian champion Ong Beng Hee.

In the WISPA women's Grand Prix finals, three times World champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald was in a mean mood. The winners flowed from her racket as she dismissed her Australian colleague and current World champion Carol Owens 9-3, 9-0, 9-1 in just 23 minutes. This gave her a semifinal against England's Linda Charman-Smith whilst Owens faces world No. 1 Leiliani Joyce (New Zealand).

Very few gave Palmer a chance against the versatile Nicol. The Aussie started positively and did not allow the defending champion any liberties. Nicol had to work for his points and it needed two forehand winners to resolve the 18 minute opener after the scores had been level at 12-12.

Nicol was 6-2 up in the second but Palmer came back with a vengeance. A forehand pass gave the Aussie the lead at 7-6 and he was good enough to take control from 9-9.

Palmer kept plugging away and in the third, Nicol's 4-0 lead was soon whittled down. The champion had a good spell, winning six points from 6-5 but had to withstand a late challenge before he could wrap up this game. In fact, Palmer was a trifle unlucky to be denied a let at 12-13, otherwise there may have been more drama.

Nicol's body language was all wrong in the fourth where he uncharacteristically made seven errors. It gave Palmer a healthy cushion at 8-1 and he wasn't going to let this slip. At 6-0 in the decider, the champion was looking good. He extended this to 8-2 and 12-8. But, the kangaroo punch had been kept in reserve and out went the top seed.

The 24 year-old Aussie is currently ranked at four and has his base in Ekeren, Belgium. He had lost to Nicol in the semifinal of last year's Millennium Irish Open but on the Hurghada waterfront, there was to be an Australian celebration.

His next opponent is England's Simon Parke. The 28 year-old Yorkshireman had beaten Paul Johnson in the 1999 British Open and last years Equitable Life Super Series finals. On Tuesday, it was his superior fitness that enabled him to make it three in a row.

The results:

PSA Masters (quarterfinals): David Palmer (Aus) bt Peter Nicol (Eng) 12-15, 15-10, 12-15, 15-8, 15-13; Simon Parke (Eng) bt Paul Johnson (England) 12-15, 15-6, 15-10, 11-15, 15-7.

WISPA women's GP Finals (Pool B): Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Aus) bt Carol Owens (Aus) 9-3, 9-0, 9-1; Suzanne Horner (Eng) bt Rachael Grinham (Aus) 9-3, 9-3, 5-9, 9-3.

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