Willstrop

Willstrop at the Wharf ...
Malcolm at the Canary Wharf Classic ...

Finals night at Canary Wharf The splendid crowds at Canary Wharf all week had been well rewarded by squash of the highest quality. I have to say that I was concerned about the final: James Willstrop had not had an easy passage to the final, Lee Beachill and Nick Matthew had both been in his way, but John White had had three successive five-setters: Davide Bianchetti, Alex Gough and in the semi-final Thierry Lincou. For him to front up again seemed a big ask. In the event my fears were ungrounded. White began, as he does, positively and won the first game, which was no big surprise, but had done sufficient work to make Willstrop feel happy enough. When the British Champion won the second comfortable he must have felt he was on his way to a 3/1 victory, but the in-form Aussie turned Scot was having none of it and served for the third game at 10/7. Willstrop did well to level, served for the game himself, but in the end lost it 13/11. The squash was high-quality and fast-paced, as it always is when these two meet, and although White led 2/1 he was quickly under pressure in the fourth as his previous efforts caught up with him. Willstrop won the fourth very easily and from then on never looked like losing, winning the fifth comfortably to take his second Canary Wharf title. The crowd were on their feet, applauding the efforts of both players, well deserved too. White can look back with pride on his efforts, especially in the final, and Willstrop will feel happy to have beaten Beachill, Matthew and White on successive nights - no mean scalps, those. I challenge anyone at Canary Wharf to say they didn't get their money's worth and Willstrop, in his winner's speech, paid tribute to the crowds, quite rightly too. So well done to the players and to the organising team of Tim Garner, Peter Nicol, Alan Thatcher and Angus Kirkland who ran things so efficiently and unobtrusively. All love the game and that is more than obvious. So thanks to the two players, finals night was a great success and proved a fitting climax to a week of top-class squash entertainment. There's little wrong with the professional game - the ISS Canary Wharf Classic was testimony to that. So well done everyone: players, organisers, crowds and all those concerned who made the event such a success.

Thursday, Semi-Finals After four excellent quarter-finals the two semi-finals offered no less and the first of them bettered any previousmatch at Canary Wharf. John Whitebegan as he invariably doesat full tilt and soon had the slow-starting Thierry Lincou under pressure. Hitting the ball sweetly and withconsumate timing he soon went 1-0 up and although the Frenchman was getting into gear, White did enough in the second to win in on a tiebreak. As the whole world knows, 2-0 deficits are hard to recover and it was much to Lincou's credit that he fought back and, eventually but never easily, levelled the scores at two-all. It is a great credit to both players who had had hard matched the previousnight, that they maintained a fierce pace, invariably a featureof White's game. At two-all with momentum in his favour Lincou might have been the likely winner, and when he took a substantial lead with White looking tired, that seemed to be so. But White fought back with great courage, reversing rallies which appeared lost causes, and won a magnificent victory which was a testimony to bothplayers. It no doubt soundstrite to say that no-one deserved to lose, but in this instance it is true. The crowds at Canary Wharf have been splendid and the players haver esponded, providing first class matches. The second semi-final between James Willstrop and Nick Matthew promised a great deal and the first two games were well-contested, although Willstrop was always controlling them. He began well,won the first and led 7/5 in the second. Four errors took Matthew to 9/7, but when Willstrop won iton a tiebreak the feeling was that the British Open champion would struggle. The British Closed champion looked in fine form throughout and closed the match out, winning the third very easily. So a repeat of last month's British Championship final between Willstrop and White. Willstrop won then 3/0 after an entertaining and high-paced final. White has had three five-setters in a row and his semi-final was severe physically. He will do well to recover enough to trouble a fresher opponent, who looks on top of his game.

Wednesday, Quarter-Finals: The tournament may have lost its top seed in world number one Amr Shabana, but the full house at Canary Wharf last night were not short changed in any way. Nick Matthew, well on his way to recovery after a troublesome injury, and the improved, fitter, Wael El Hindi opened the evening's entertainment and for a long time there was little in it. When they met in the World Championship in Egypt last year El Hindi muscled out Matthew in an unsatisfactory fifth game. Moving better these days, he is less of a problem in the movement stakes, but after three competitive games Matthew drew clear surprisingly easily in the fourth, winning it 11/1. He will face James Willstrop in the semi-finals after Willstrop beat friend and training partner Lee Beachill 3/2 to finally rid himself of the stigma of never having beaten him. Willstrop never wins the first game off Beachill, but he did so this time after establishing an early lead which saw him home 11/9. Aided by errors, Beachill, showing much of his trademark control and often attacking with flair, led 2/1. Willstrop went clear in the fourth, won it, and was always ahead in the fifth, winning it 11/7. The younger man played with restraint, clearly deciding that this was his best game plan and it saw him home. Both players struck the ball well and the match, much appreciated by the crowd, was high quality. Thierry Lincou on paper had a simpler task against Adrian Grant and although he won 3/0,that by no means tells the whole story. Three tightly-contested games lasted almost 80 minutes and the squash was always positive and attacking. The third game went to a tiebreak and Grant had game balls to win it. He certainly deserved some reward for his efforts and will find it difficult to believe he lost 3/0. On the other hand he can be pleased with the way he played, as will Lincou, who began more quickly than he sometimes does and maintained pressure throughout. Lincou will play John White, who survived another five-setter against evergreen Alex Gough. By the time the match ended, at just after midnight, these were two hardened warriors should have already read stories to their children and been tucked up in bed themselves. White's resilience will be tested tonight against Lincou, but he will be fortified by the knowledge that Lincou had no easy passage himself. Kickoff at 5.30, final ball struck just after midnight; four highly-competitive matches of quality - let no-one say they were not well entertained. The crowd was splendid; vociferous, but appreciative and gave the players every encouragement. So what of the semi-finals? Matthew and Willstrop invariable produce matches of quality, so it would be a surprise if theirs is not only close, but also worth watching. Lincou and White provide a contrast of styles and perhaps the deciding factor will be who recovers best from last night's exertions.	David Barry Gallery