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Saturday 26th : SEMI-finals ...
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Day SEVEN, Sat 26th Nov:
Men's Draw
Women's Draw |
PORTRAITS
Qatar Quicks
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Qatar Classic Semi-Finals
More upsets
in the semi-finals, as David Palmer stops top seed Thierry Lincou in
five and Vicky Botwright adds another top scalp to her collection as she
moves into her first grand prix final ...
[6] Vicky Botwright (Eng) bt [3] Nicol
David (Mas)
9/6, 2/9, 9/7, 4/9, 9/6 (60m)
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (Ned) bt [4]
Natalie Grinham (Aus)
9/6, 9/5, 9/5 (36m)
[3] David Palmer (Aus) bt [1] Thierry
Lincou (Fra)
5/11, 13/11, 12/10, 8/11, 11/1 (82m)
[8] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [7]
Anthony Ricketts (Aus)
11/5, 4/11, 11/4, 11/6 (51m)
Framboise reports from Doha ... |
[6]
Vicky Botwright
(Eng) bt [3] Nicol David (Mas)
9/6, 2/9, 9/7, 4/9, 9/6 (60m) |
CATCH UP
GAME…
 When
superb athletes Nicol David and Vicky Botwright stepped
on court today, we all knew this was going to be a
tremendous battle, and we were not disappointed…
Nicol started blasting off as she normally does, and
before Vicky knew it, she was down 4/0 and her chances
in that opening game seemed pretty grim. But Running
Vicky clawed back to take the first game in 11 minutes
9/6.
 In
the second, Vicky was overwhelmed, and it only took only
five minutes for Duracell Bunny to equalise 1/1. And it
looked quite bad for the English girl when she found
herself down 7/2 in the next game. Once again, she came
back from far behind to take the lead two games to 1,
9/7.
Nicol was playing very well, but I feel she had a bit
more pressure today, I felt her a bit more tense, a bit
less patient than she normally is, and it really showed
in the decider, after she equalised 9/4 in 9 minutes.
She was so near to the victory, 6/2 up, three points
away from victory, and she started playing short, taking
unnecessary risks, and opening the court a bit too much.
At that point, Vicky had nothing to lose, she just went
for her game, stepped up, retrieved all the shots that
were thrown at her, lobbed beautifully, her backhand
drop shots as superb as they were the day before against
Rachael, and turned the tables round. From 6/6, it all
went very quickly, one match ball was going to be
enough, and on a superb straight forehand drop shot,
Miss Vicky Botwright had pinned another top player's
scalp to her racquet…
 "I
think it’s the biggest night of my career. And
beating Rachael and Nicol in the same tournament
is just fantastic for me…
"I haven't had an easy match yet, and my
last three all went to five…
"At the start at the each game, Nicol came out,
going very fast, jumping up and down, bouncing
around, and although I was prepared for it, it
still took me a few rallies to get used to it…
"In the last game, when I was down 6/1, I just
wanted to play my game, keep it in the air. And
although we played five games, it wasn’t a long
match, and I just wanted to keep plugging away….
So I gave it a last big push…
"It’s the biggest tournament of the year, and I’m
in the final!"
Vicky
Botwright |
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"Vicky had that extra edge that came with beating
Rachael yesterday. She got so much confidence from
that victory….
"When Vicky is
down it the score she always relaxes, and I started
to want to do too much, I only had to hang in there…
But she kept on with her game, and got me out of my
comfort zone…
"I should have made sure that I kept the rallies
going, not do too much, I should have been more
patient… I was too eager to do something with the
openings that I created…"
Nicol David |
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IMPERIAL VANESSA…
The World Champion Vanessa Atkinson game a superb
performance of her talents against Australian Natalie
Grinham, and didn’t give any opportunity to her opponent
to play her o so lethal short game…
There were a few too many errors from the Australian,
but overall she played well, moved fast, and found some
great drop shots, she saved three game points in the
second to come back from 8/2 to 8/5, and never gave up
fighting, but the momentum, the energy and the precision
were with Vanessa today, who is just one step away from
retaining her Qatar Classic title.
 "She
must have been a bit tired from her match yesterday.
"I was making mistakes in patches, I had some dodgy
moments, but overall, I was able to keep them down
to a minimum during this tournament. And if you can
cut down on those bad moments, you are going to get
fresher for the later rounds…
"Now, for Vicky tomorrow, I’m expecting her to play
very well, and to fight for every ball. She’s got no
pressure, and I’m certainly not going to go into the
match thinking that she will be tired…"
Vanessa
Atkinson |
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 "I
didn’t feel tired. I felt that I was in the match, I
had the opportunities, but I was making too many
mistakes….
"Today, Vanessa was playing very well, and she is
such an up and down player, I would have preferred
to catch her on a bad day…!"
Natalie Grinham |
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[3]
David Palmer (Aus) bt
[1] Thierry Lincou (Fra)
5/11, 13/11, 12/10, 8/11, 11/1 (77m) |
SHARP DAVID…
Like I told you for a few days, I’ve been impressed by
David Palmer’s form on this tournament, and his
remarkable performance against Thierry Lincou tonight
confirms my feeling that the Marine is back at his
utmost best. OK, he got some help from the Frenchman,
who had a mental ‘no man’s land” in the third, but
still…
David came on court, but if the racquet was there, the
brain wasn’t. He started by trying to serve the first
point, whereas it was Thierry that won the spin, and
went on dozing away during the first game. But he soon
came back to Earth, and got his first game ball in the
second at 10/7. Thierry was starting one of his usual
comebacks, saved three game balls to impose a tie-break,
got a game ball that he couldn’t concretise, to finally
surrender the game to David 13/11 in 24 minutes.
The match got decided in the third, as Thierry was
playing extremely well, and set up what should have been
an easy game ball at 10/6. But David was relaxed, went
for his shots, applied the pressure, and point after
point, clawed back to clinch the game 12/10. Thierry
eventually equalised 2/2, but he really mentally had to
dig in hard and try to motivate himself to take the 4th
11/8, and had nothing left in the fifth that lasted an
incredible four minutes.
Thierry was stunned. Somebody had done a “Lincou” to
him! You know what I mean, don’t you? My compatriot is
famous for his comebacks from Hell, and he won so many
matches saving match balls for breakfast.
“I will never forget that”, he stated later… “Now I know
what it feels like, you are given all the chances, and
you let them slip away from you. It’s awful.” And he
concluded “It was David’s turn today, he was more
offensive, he was sharper than I was”.
Hear hear…
 "I
had a bad start, and it lasted until the middle of
the second game where I was just trying to get into
the match. Thierry is so good at his steady pace,
and I knew that it’s not by chipping down the wall
that I was going to win. So I used my volley
variations to make him twist and turn..
"In the third, even if I was down game ball 6/10, I
knew that I could make him work hard in the fourth,
so I didn’t have anything to lose, and I went for
every shot. And the same thing in the fourth… Also,
I made him worked very hard in the second, and it
took effect in the fifth as he was flat when we got
to the decider…"
David Palmer |
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| [8]
James Willstrop
(Eng) bt [7] Anthony Ricketts (Aus)
11/5, 4/11, 11/4, 11/6 (51m) |
JAMES ON TOP
THIS TIME…
I’ve got the feeling that in the coming years, we’ll see
quite a lot of these matches between Anthony Ricketts
and James Willstrop, and it will probably depend on the
court conditions to determine the winner…
On a warm court, where the Intense Australian can apply
his remarkable fitness to retrieve and practically
volley all the nicks that are thrown at him, like
Manchester or New York, he’ll be thriving, but will
probably suffer a bit more on court like this one, where
the ball physically dies and cannot be saved…
And today was James' day. Physically sharp, as although
the Yorkshire man had intense matches, they all went in
three, his unforced errors reduced to a minimum (can’t
tell you with precision, as I was typing the quotes from
the previous match and could not write them down in the
first game, sue me…), precise, alert and very focused,
he was just unstoppable.
Anthony was as determined as ever, and the rallies were
played at an extremely fast pace, but the Australian was
always a bit on the back foot and there was not much he
could do to counterattack and impose his own style of
game.
Like I said to start with, each their turn…
"I thought the court would suit me, as it did up to
now, but his short game is just too good. His drop
shots were sticking to the wall, and there was
nothing I could do…
"So I tried to vary my game, tried and slowed down
the pace, lobbed the ball, and I got a few points,
but I knew that I was not going to win the match
like that…
"It’s the third game that made it the more
frustrating, I just lost my momentum, and my
concentration…
"And it’s not that I didn’t want it bad enough, I
don’t see any positive side about losing today, I'm
not tired at all, and I’m really disappointed…"
Anthony
Ricketts |
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"In the second, he kept on putting pressure on me…
He makes you feel like you can’t attack, by pushing
you into the back corner…
"This match was so weird, but I guess the court
brings it in I guess… In the fourth, I don’t think I
ever played like that in all my life, the first drop
shot was winning the rally, it was incredible…
"I don’t have the feeling he was playing at his
best…"
James Willstrop |
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