Power Victory Takes Two Canadians Into Classic Semis

Two Canadians will compete in the semi-finals of the Pace Credit Union Canadian Classic for the first time after a dramatic quarter-finals day at BCE Place in Toronto which featured a Power victory in the game's greatest rivalry and three matches decided as a result of injury.

Jonathon Power, the seventh seed from Montreal, was at the peak of his skill in taking a straight games victory over his long-time English rival Peter Nicol. Ranked nine in the world, Power had control of the game over world number three Nicol from the first ball and never let up. By the middle of the third game Nicol virtually gave up, realising he was not going to be able to reverse the dominance that the Canadian had built up.

Power likes to play fast, and everything was in his favour - a fast court, a hot ball and the new scoring to eleven. He was hitting his favourite shot - the backhand drop - with deadly accuracy and holding his shot until the last moment, leaving Nicol flat-footed time and time again.

The pace was fast and furious and the accuracy breathtaking. The packed galleries were all for Power and he gave them what they wanted, leading throughout the three games to win 11-7 11-7 11-2 in 42 minutes.

"I was moving well from the beginning which is always important and I took the centre of the court away from him, which is also key," Power said. "Peter wasn't reading my shots because I was really putting holds on the ball and then snapping it past him. And my drops were working well, so he had to cover them. My touch game and my length game were working and it was tough for him to cover both."

This was their 39th meeting on the pro circuit - their first was at the 1995 Canadian Open, ironically, in Burlington, Ontario. Nicol still leads 21 to 18 on this, the greatest head-to-head battle in squash since Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan locked horns.

Queried about his semi-final meeting with Anthony Ricketts, Power said that he was not expecting an easy game against the Australian. "I have beaten him twice this year, but he's getting better every match. The last time it was 3/0, but the match was very close," added Power.

In only his first match of the tournament, Ricketts prevailed in straight games when opponent Lee Beachill, the favourite and world No1 from England, limped out of the event when an old adductor injury reduced his movement. The Yorkshireman had performed superbly in his first round match on Monday, but he admitted later that Ricketts had put him under enormous pressure with long rallies and, as the match progressed, the injury worsened.

This is not to detract from the performance of the Australian, presently ranked 14th in the world. From the first ball he played inch-perfect squash leading all the way to win the first game 11-4 and hitting six outright winners on the way. A collision at 5-3 left Beachill with a dead leg and he had to walk it off before continuing. From that moment on Beachill had a hesitancy about his play and although he pushed to 6-6 in the second game, it was clear that he was not operating at 100 percent capacity.

After losing the second game, Beachill claimed a three-minute injury break and received treatment to his upper right thigh. Even though the break between the two games ran to eight minutes, it was not enough for Beachill and he offered just token resistance in the third game as unseeded Ricketts claimed his 11-4 11-6 11-2 victory in 45 minutes.

Unseeded Graham Ryding leads Canadian interest in the other semi-final: In the final match of the evening, Australian qualifier Paul Price had to retire in the third game against Ryding - suffering from the severe back problem which has interrupted his career several times for the last four years.

Ryding will face No2 seed Thierry Lincou after the Frenchman was handed his quarter-final victory when opponent Joseph Kneipp, the No8 seed from Australia, was forced to retire in the middle of the third game with the score standing at 7-11 11-10 5-0.

Quarter-finals:
Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [1] Lee Beachill (ENG) 11-4, 11-6, 11-2 (45m)
[7] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [3] Peter Nicol (ENG) 11-7, 11-7, 11-2 (42m)
Graham Ryding (CAN) bt [Q] Paul Price (AUS) 11-8, 11-6, 7-0 ret. (46m)
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [8] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) 7-11, 11-10 (4-2), 5-0 ret. (39m)