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| April 17, 2002 | Wednesday | Safar 3, 142 |
Nicol and Fitz-Gerald clinch titles
MANCHESTER (England), April 16: Top seed Peter Nicol, the Scotsman turned Englishman, beat John White, the Australian who became Scottish, to reclaim the British Open title with a 15-9, 15-8, 15-8 victory Monday.
But British hopes of a double success were dashed when the top seed in the women’s event, Australian Sarah Fitz-Gerald, successfully defended her crown by thrashing the 22-year-old Englishwoman Tania Bailey 9-3, 9-0, 9-0.
Nicol’s win, the first by an English player since the Second World War, was achieved by some outstanding containing and retrieving that frustrated the attack-minded White into errors.
For Nicol, whose previous British Open title came in 1998 when he represented Scotland, it was an ideal rehearsal for the defence of his Commonwealth title on the court that will be used for the Games, with the squash running from 31 July-4 August.
White looked a little jaded after his long semifinal with Jonathon Power, many people’s tip for the title, and was tempted into trying to find quick ways to finish the rallies.
“But you just can’t do that against him — he keeps it so tight and just gets too much back,” said the former Queenslander ruefully.
Although Nicol briefly lost a four-point lead in the first game, he never looked like going behind after that, and once got White so irritated that he hit the ball accidentally out of court after losing a rally.
British hopes in the women’s final were dashed in little more than half an hour as Bailey, a surprise finalist, was taken apart by Fitz-Gerald, who has now won four World Opens and two British Opens and could well add to her haul of major titles.
Bailey had beaten two former world champions en route to the final, but only in the first few minutes did she look to have the capacity to trouble Fitz-Gerald.
Fitz-Gerald increased her dominance of the middle of the court and becoming more accurate with her volleying attacks as the match went on. She took the last 22 points in a row.
Bailey’s resistance seemed to be undermined when she hit a return of serve into the tin at game ball in the first game and thereafter only managed to serve four times in the second game and three times in the third.
Monday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men’s final: 1-Peter Nicol (England) beat 6-John White (Scotland) 15-9, 15-8, 15-8.
Women’s final: 1-Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Australia) beat 15-Tania Bailey (England) 9-3, 9-0, 9-0.—Reuters
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