Beachill & Nicol Go Top As Nicol's Place Hangs In The Balance

England's Lee Beachill completed his second consecutive Harrow Group victory in the second qualifying round of the Brit Insurance Super Series Finals at the Broadgate Arena in London tonight with a battling straight games victory over compatriot James Willstrop.

Beachill, who has never lost to his 21-year-old Pontefract club colleague, consolidated his title bid with an 11-7 11-10 11-9 win that takes him to the top of the group and one step closer to Thursday's semi-finals.

The 27-year-old world No2 from Yorkshire didn't have it all his own way and had to battle hard throughout - not least in a marathon second game that Willstrop could so easily have won but for a contentious let call with the score in his favour at 12-11 in the tie-break. That proved the turning point with Beachill recovering to take the tiebreak 6-4 and then the third and final game.

"It's always tough against James, even though we know each other's games so well," said Beachill. "I try to contain him and keep him in the back of the court. I was fortunate to win the second and that was the key."

The evening's other Harrow Group match saw Australia's David Palmer bounce back from his loss to Willstrop last night to inflict a 3/0 defeat on England's No6 seed Nick Matthew.

"I'm back in the group," said Palmer, the second seed after his 11-9 11-10 11-9 win in 54 minutes. "When I won it in 2002 I lost my first game then as well."

In the final match of the evening, defending champion Thierry Lincou staged a superb recovery against Egypt's former world champion Amr Shabana to cement his place at the top of the Fleet Group. Shabana looked untouchable in the first two games, racing to a 2/0 lead in just 20 minutes. But Frenchman Lincou, the reigning world champion, then turned the match on its head, winning the next three games in just over 20 minutes to register a 6-11 6-11 11-5 11-4 11-1 victory.

Earlier, in the night's opening Fleet Group match, England's Peter Nicol was forced to retire injured early in the first game of his match against arch rival Jonathon Power of Canada. The No4 seed sustained a deep cut to the little finger of his racket hand whilst diving to recover a ball at the back of the court and will await the assessment of a medic tomorrow morning before making a decision on his future participation in the tournament.

Should he withdraw, his place will be taken by Australia's Anthony Ricketts, the first reserve.

2nd qualifying round:

Fleet group:
[8] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [4] Peter Nicol (ENG) 2-4 ret.
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [7] Amr Shabana (EGY) 6-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-1 (49m)

Harrow group:
[3] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [5] James Willstrop (ENG) 11-7, 11-10 (6-4), 11-9 (49m)
[2] David Palmer (AUS) bt [6] Nick Matthew (ENG) 11-9, 11-10 (4-2), 11-9 (54m)