Matthew Marches Into Hong Kong Final

England's eighth-seeded Nick Matthew today took his professional squash career to a new level when he beat Australia's world No4 David Palmer, the reigning British Open champion, in four games in the semi-finals of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open.

The possibility of the first all-English Hong Kong final evaporated when Lee Beachill, the second seed, was locked out by a forceful performance from Thierry Lincou of France, the third seed, in the other semi-final.

Matthew's 11-6 11-10 9-11 11-9 win puts the 24-year-old from Sheffield into his first PSA Super Series final. "I have been training hard as part of the England squad to develop more speed and explosiveness for the new 11-point format in play on the PSA World Tour from now on," said the world No8. "I played the English Open early in August and was badly beaten by Simon Parke in the early rounds, so we have been concentrating on movement and speed."

The heart of the first semi-final lay in the second game when Palmer struck back for a hold on the match after dropping the first in 15 minutes. The Australian, a former World No1 and World Open Champion, raced to 3-0 up, then fought back to 8-8 and 10-10 with increasing confidence. But Matthew was strong in reply, producing a range of fast strong shots under pressure that took him first from 0-3 to 8-6, then to game ball on 10-9.

Playing volley kills, cunningly delayed drop volleys and piercing deliveries into well contrived space, Matthew lost a drop duel in the top left corner to reach the tiebreak, then slipped in the back left corner to go game ball down on Palmer's opportunistic backhand drop shot, but then played two textbook defensive rallies to bring a brace of Palmer errors, one over the left wall and one into the tin, before imposing complete authority at 13-11 with a forehand slammed nick shot that left the big Australian blinking in surprise.

Palmer attacked again for the third game, leading 5-0 and 6-5, but Matthew launched a two hand assault to 8-6 that was broken only by a poor no-let call on a blocked forehand drive. When Palmer hit a backhand volley into the tin for Matthew to lead 9-7, the match look over and done.

But the Australian's best spell of the semi-final gave him four successive points and the game to bring him a toehold on the match. Palmer led 4-0 in the fourth, but underdog Matthew fought back to gain a 10-7 lead and won his place in the final from a penalty stroke after 59 minutes, as his opponent failed to clear a backhand drop shot.

The opening game of the second semi-final suggested it might be just as good a tussle, but Beachill admitted later that even in this game his mental hold on the semi-final was not strong. "I don't think I played badly, but I only played well in patches while Thierry was at the top of his game from the first rally," explained the world No2 after his 11-10 11-6 3-11 11-6 defeat in 48 minutes.

Lincou agreed that the match had hinged upon the mental battle of the first game. "That was about imposing the shape of the match on each other. I was determined that my attack should be such that Lee would be unable to drive me deep into the court. I got a good start and was able to return to the dominant position for the tiebreak. After that I felt generally in control of things even when Lee found his game again for the third game."

It was the loss of the first game tiebreak, after grinding back from 3-8 down to 10-10, that hurt Beachill most noticeably. He pushed desperately into the second game and slightly tweaked a hamstring going for a well-disguised drop shot fired into the top right corner by Lincou. From there he lost his hold on the play and was 8-2 and 10-3 down almost without reply.

"It did not become a problem," said Beachill. "I played through it really - but in this new format the smallest loss of attention can prove so expensive. Two or three rallies sped by and suddenly the end of the game is approaching and you start thinking about how to get out of trouble. Under 15-point scoring, you had time to settle down and work your way back into a game."

Thierry Lincou is celebrating his 22nd appearance in a PSA Tour final and seeking his second title of the year after winning his first Super Series Finals crown in May. Matthew is appearing in his third final of the year and the 16th of his career.