1st round:
[1] David Palmer (AUS) bt [Q] Alex Gough (WAL) 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (41m)
[5] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Peter Barker (ENG) 5-11, 11-9, 11-10 (3-1), 11-7 (57m)
Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [3] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6 (74m)
[7] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 (50m)
British squash hero Peter Nicol survived the opening encounter in his
final event in the UK before he retires when he fought back from a game
down to beat his young England team-mate Peter Barker in tonight's
(Tuesday) first round of the Mamut English Open at the Crucible Theatre
in Sheffield.
"That was almost just what I wanted," conceded the 33-year-old Englishman who is bowing out of the game after an illustrious career which includes 60 months at the top of the world rankings and more than 50 major international titles including the World Open, British Open and four Commonwealth Games gold medals.
"Peter really came out for it and played really well in the first game," said title-holder Nicol after his crowd-pleasing 5-11, 11-9, 11-10 (3-1), 11-7 triumph in 57 minutes.
"But slowly I managed to exert pressure on him until he started making mistakes and then could see the match falling away from him," added the fifth seed.
Barker, a 22-year-old from Upminster in Essex who is ranked just outside the world top 20, claimed that he did not feel under any pressure before tonight's much-hailed clash.
"When I heard I was drawn to play Peter in his last event in the UK, I was really pleased – I felt quite honoured," said fellow left-hander Barker. "It's never nice losing in the first round of a tournament, but even though I did, I'm sure the match will benefit me in the future."
Nicol will now meet his great rival David Palmer, the top seed from Australia, in the quarter-finals on Thursday. Palmer, whom Nicol beat earlier in the year in Melbourne to win his second Commonwealth Games singles gold medal, dashed hopes of Welsh interest in the last eight when he defeated qualifier Alex Gough 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 in 41 minutes.
Unseeded Australian Stewart Boswell claimed the first upset in the 5-star PSA Tour event hosted by Sheffield City Council when he rallied to a five-game victory over Australian team-mate Anthony Ricketts, the No3 seed, on the all-glass court at the Crucible.
In a match described by both players as "patchy in places", Boswell stemmed a late fight-back by his close friend and training partner to overcome the world No5 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6 in 74 minutes.
It was the 28-year-old from Canberra's first PSA Tour win over Ricketts in recent years – "but we used to play each other in almost every tournament we entered when we started on the circuit," conceded Boswell afterwards.
"The fourth game was a bit of a disaster for me, but I repeated what I had planned to do in that game in the fifth, and it seemed to work better for me," explained Boswell, the former world No4 who recently endured a two-year lay-off with a mystery back injury.
Both Australians are UK-based – Boswell in Manchester and Ricketts now in Pontefract in Yorkshire.
The opening match of the evening saw the first of the event's three British/French encounters – with first blood going to France when Gregory Gaultier, the seventh seed making his debut in the event, beat English qualifier Daryl Selby, from Witham in Essex, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 in 50 minutes.