Lincou Lifts Canadian Classic Title

Canada's Jonathon Power was denied the chance to win his fourth title in front of packed and exuberant home crowd at BCE Place in Toronto when he was beaten by France's Thierry Lincou in a dramatic five-game final of the Pace Credit Union Canadian Classic.

Lincou is a muscular, tough player who likes to occupy the centre of the court, causing his opponents to run around him. Time and time again Power appealed to the referee that his opponent was not clearing the ball. But the truth was that the Frenchman's advisers had obviously worked out a strategy to beat the charismatic Canadian. Lincou volleyed everything he could, worked both front corners and did to Power what Power normally does to his opponents.

Lincou was particularly deadly in the right front and constantly had Power in all sorts of trouble. Meanwhile Power's magic touch, that had been thrilling the partisan crowds all week, deserted him and he made more errors in one night than he had throughout the entire tournament.

Power took the first game, leveraging a tentative start by his opponent, but started the second game with two errors in the first three rallies and from that point Lincou led the game. The 30-year-old from Montreal was suffering pain in his left foot, which Lincou had trodden on early in the first game, but still managed to send the game into a tie break. He was twice denied lets and Lincou took the 20-minute game 3-1 in the tie-break.

In the third game, Power was feeling his thigh and it looked as though the injury curse was about to rear its head. Power played tentatively and, not surprisingly, the game was over in seven minutes, to Lincou. Power was given some treatment for a pulled right quadriceps in the break.

But Jonathon Power is always full of surprises, and he started the fourth game with some fine winners. At 2-2, the 28-year-old Frenchman was incensed when the referee called one of his balls down. The No2 seed argued at length and virtually pushed the self-destruct button. With his concentration gone, Lincou allowed Power to forge ahead to 6-3 and although he pulled it back to 7-7, Power was in his stride, his touch returned and he won the game handily to tie the match.

The fifth game see-sawed back and forth: Lincou led 3-1, and then Power led 8-7. The next rally was critical and Power gave the point away on a backhand cross-court that hit the tin. Lincou hit two winners to get to match ball. Power finished the match with another error as Lincou claimed his 9-11 11-10 11-6 7-11 11-8 victory in 80 minutes.

Bitterly disappointed at losing in front of a very packed, partisan crowd, Power said that it was hard to do so in front of his greatest supporters. "I couldn't produce my form consistently tonight and Lincou played extremely well. There's not much else to say," Power said, after accepting the loser's cheque.

Lincou thought it was one of his best performances this year. "I kept to my game plan. Keep him in the back before going short. You can't attack too early with Power. I was waiting for him to put me in the front of the court rather, than me put him there," Lincou said. Of his collapse in the fourth game Lincou claimed: "I was sure my ball was up and I got angry. Tension was very high."

This is Lincou's first Canadian title and bodes well for his return to the number one spot in the world rankings. The triumph also marks his third PSA Tour title of the year - and the 12th of his career.

Final:
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [7] Jonathon Power (CAN) 9-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-6, 7-11, 11-8 (80m)