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TODAY in Birmingham
Sun 9th, Finals:
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Prince English
Grand Prix Final:
[4] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [3] Thierry Lincou (Fra)
11/8, 11/8, 9/11, 7/11, 11/3 (77m) |
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Prince James Claims
Grand Prix Crown
At 2-0 and 6-0 it looked cut and
dried that James Willstrop would delight tournament sponsors
Prince with a victory for their new signing, but Thierry Lincou
had other ideas.
Both had come through gruelling five-game semi-finals, but you
wouldn't have known that at any stage of a match whose intensity
never dropped below very high ...
Thierry is sometimes a slow starter, but not tonight. He led the
early stages of the first, but James edged ahead and held the
lead, taking the first with a delicate drop that nicked with
Thierry in close attendance.
James led throughout the second, albeit narrowly, as the rallies
got tougher. He advanced quickly in the third, and 6-0 looked a
secure enough lead, but Thierry is renowned for his tenacity,
and he set about building another of his miracle comebacks.
He got himself back to
7-all, pulled one game back, recovered from a 4-1 deficit in the
fourth to get on level terms, and at that point was looking the
likely winner.
 But
James came out on the attack in the fifth. Gone was the patient
rallying waiting for a chance to attack, it was attack all the
way as he built leads of 4-0 and 7-1.
This time it was enough. Arms raised in relief as much as joy,
James had won another major PSA tournament after a long wait,
and the Prince promise had been fulfilled.
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 "I
lacked patience, in particular in the first two games. I did
train and work into an more offensive game, but I would say that
I used it wrongly tonight, and that I didn’t find the right
tempo yet.
"I’ve got to adapt again, to find the good balance, putting
weight on the ball while being relaxed. Today, it was all a bit
in a precipitation mode…
"But still a very positive outcome, I lost in five after a good
comeback that proves that I’ve found both my combativeness and
my fitness.
"I just need to find the right tuning between the game at the
front, and the game at the back, and a good pace…"
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 "I
had a really good time a couple of years ago, then it didn’t go
as well I as I would have liked, but I’ve worked as hard as I
could to come back and win tournaments. Like most of the
players, I don’t look at the ranking points so much, I just
concentrate on winning the events, so it's a real honour to win
this one, especially as it's my first Prince tournament,
absolutely brilliant.
"Thierry is a fantastic squash player, I’ve been watching him
for so long, and he is the king for three things, one, king of
starting slow, then, at getting better as the matches goes on,
and three, at coming back.
 "And
when I was 2/0 and 7/1 up, I treated it differently as I would
have with anybody else, because I’ve seen him coming back from
that position so many times. But he was so accurate, I was
scraping balls off the wall and I just couldn’t do anything.
It’s nothing fancy, nothing complicated, simple squash but so
efficient. I came through just by sticking at it, and giving it
everything I had.
"Delighted to win, thanks Paul and his team, he’s put in an
awful lot of effort, this venue is superb, it's an honour to
play on it, a fantastic idea to put it on here, thanks to the
University. Thanks to the refs, turn up, do the job, and don’t
complain - we do, but they don’t, and they turn up every week,
so thanks to them.
"Thanks to the people who have put a lot of time into my game,
David and Malcolm, Mick my manager, Damon my physical trainer.
What you see out there is pretty much what they’ve put out…"
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Juniors & Masters Finals photos
Full Masters Results
Full Junior Results
Girls U19:
Sarah-Jane Perry bt Chloe Marshall 9/2, 9/3,
9/3
Boys U19:
Hywel Robinson bt Chris Fuller
9/7, 3/9, 0/9, 9/2, 9/2
Girls U17:
Julie-Anne Courtice bt Emma Wardle 7/9,
9/2, 10/9, 9/4
Boys U17:
Phillip Bull bt Robert Downer
7/9, 9/5, 3/9, 10/8, 9/4
Women's O40: Samantha Willis bt Linda Winder
9/5, 9/2, 9/3
Men's O40:
Peter Gunter bt Steve McLoughlin
9/1, 9/3, 9/4
Women's O35: Sarah Fitz-Gerald bt Claire
Walker 9/1, 9/1, 9/0
Men's O35:
Nick Wall bt Glen Ragout
9/6, 9/1, 6/9, 9/3
From
7th/8th to the Final
Preview from Malcolm Willstrop
 So
soon after the birth of his second child, Thierry Lincou looked
below par at the Super Series Finals, but he has been back to
somewhere near his formidable best in Birmingham.
James Willstrop beat Lincou in the 7/8 playoff in Manchester but
was close to reaching the final, playing well enough in all his
four matches.
He came through strongly to beat Peter Barker convincingly and,
moving well and digging deep, he beat David Palmer in a fine
match to reach the final.
Neither player can be at their freshest for today's final, but
the world's top players are tough and front up well. They must
laugh up their sleeves at soccer players complaining about two
matches a week.
Lincou's exploits at last year's British Open are the stuff
legends are made of and he is one of the best at backing up. He
can start slowly though, and Willstrop will need to shake off
the effects of last night's match and start well, if he can. |
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Prince
English Grand Prix - Birmingham 2007
