Judging by the "oohs" and "aahs" coming from the bulk of the crowd attending the quarter-finals of the Nivea for Men Millennium Irish Open at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club last night it's safe to say that the squash professionals play a game with which your average club player is not familiar, to paraphrase the old golf quote.
World number one Peter Nicol of Scotland and England's Del Harris, ranked at nine, served up a wonderful exhibition of squash played at an extraordinary pace, with a bewildering array of shots, in the night's first quarter-final which Nicol won in straight games, 15-10, 15-8, 1510, after 45 minutes on court.
Nicol, though, was made to work hard for his victory by his old adversary, who he described as one of the game's "most powerful and explosive players". Harris, who first appeared in the world rankings as a 15-year-old in 1984, put that power to good use in the opening game, trading points with Nicol until the score stood at 10-10, but an unforced error gave the top seed the advantage and he stepped up a gear to close out the set, 15-10.
The Scot was in control by then but, as he conceded after, Harris continued to make him toil for every point. Nicol sealed his win by taking the final game 15-10, relieved to have seen off a dangerous opponent. "I'm not sure how long that match lasted but it felt like an hour or more," he said after the match. "I felt I controlled things pretty well but against Del you cannot afford to be adventurous - if you are he will punish you. I was annoyed that I dropped a game against John White last night so I came out a lot quicker tonight and I'm pleased with how I played. I haven't hit my best form here yet, but hopefully I will tomorrow." Nicol's opponent in this evening's semi-final will be Australian David Palmer, seeded eight, who took just 32 minutes to overpower Mark Chaloner of England last night. Palmer (23) is one of the circuit's rising stars having jumped to nine in the rankings having not even been inside the top 40 at the start of last year.
"A year ago I would have been very happy just to have made the top 10 but now I'm not prepared to settle for that," he said. So, a five year plan to reach number one? "Oh no, sooner than that," he insisted. Tonight's match will give Palmer an opportunity to gauge his progress when he meets the world number one for the first time. They have, though, got to know each other quite well since arriving in Dublin - they've ended up sharing a room at the tournament hotel. Alex Gough of Wales was forced to retire from the night's third quarter-final with shin splints when he was trailing number four seed Simon Parke by one game and by 13-4 in the second.
MILLENNIUM IRISH OPEN (at Fitzwilliam) - Quarter-finals: P Nicol (Scot) bt D Harris (Eng) 1510, 15-8, 15-10; D Palmer (Aust) bt M Chaloner 155, 15-10, 15-5; S Parke (Eng) bt A Gough (Wal) 154, 13-4, rtd.
"A year ago I would have been very happy just to have made the top 10 but now I'm not prepared to settle for that," he said. So, a fiveyear plan to reach number one? "Oh no, sooner than that," he insisted. Tonight he meets the world number one for the first time.
Alex Gough of Wales was forced to retire from the third quarterfinal with shin splints when he was trailing number four seed Simon Parke by one game and by 13-4 in the second. Parke, who beat Derek Ryan in the opening round, meets Canadian Jonathan Power in this evening's second semi-final. The world number two beat Thierry Lincou in an entertaining match.
MILLENNIUM IRISH OPEN (at Fitzwilliam): Quarter-finals: P Nicol (Scot) bt D Harris (Eng) 1510, 15-8, 15-10; D Palmer (Aust) bt M Chaloner 155, 15-10, 15-5; S Parke (Eng) bt A Gough (Wal) 154, 13-4, rtd; J Power (Can) bt T Lincou (Fra) 15-6, 15-5, 15-11.
