Jonathon Power picked up his first Legends title with a hard fought victory over Irishman Derek Ryan in the Mr. Chips Aberdeen Squash Legends.

Having put out arch rival and local favourite Peter Nicol the previous evening, Power clearly meant business opening up an 8/2 lead in a matter of minutes. Ryan was a little slow out of the blocks, perhaps slightly affected by his tough match the previous evening, but he started to move better towards the end of the game despite losing it and then opened up a lead in the second.

 Power battled back saving 3 game balls from 6/10, one of which Ryan was almost out of the door before he realised his opponent had thrown himself forwards to pick up the disguised return of serve. However, he managed to win it at the fourth attempt with a beautifully sliced cross-court winner that barely flickered out of the nick.

Unperturbed, Power then treated the capacity crowd to a true master-class in squash rallies mixing crisp dying drives with holds & flicks that had Ryan lunging all over the court to stay in contention. He worked hard to try and stem the flow of points but having fallen behind by two games to one it was an uphill task as Power went out his business in impressive fashion opening up an 8/0 lead in the fourth.

Ryan hasn’t been capped over 200 times for Ireland for nothing and he battled to the end but eventually after two let balls on match point Power closed it out to get his hands on his first Legends trophy.

Earlier in the day Simon Parke collected third spot with fast and furious two game win over Tim Garner, while for once it was Nicol collecting the wooden spoon.

A tough last few months seemingly having taken their toll on the former number one, but with a couple of weeks to rest up before the next leg of the Legends Tour in Baltimore, USA, few would bet against Nicol defending the title he won there twelve months ago.

A fantastic weekend of squash in the north-east of Scotland saw the Legends not only entertaining four sold out sessions, but also stepping on court with juniors and adults as part of the regular Legends clinics that are such an integral part of the tour.

Thanks to the hard work of club manager Alistair Gorrie and his team, and the backing of title sponsor Craig Thompson from Mr. Chips, the event was a resounding success and talk is already afoot for making it even bigger and better next year!
 

Jonathon Power and Derek Ryan will contest the final of the first ever Mr Chips Aberdeen Legends of Squash on Super Sunday after both had wins over higher seeded opponents, albeit it in contrasting styles.

Ryan edged, literally, past Simon Parke over 80 gruelling minutes of squash. Having been asked in his pre-match interview what he was looking for from the match, Ryan commented ‘some savage squash but no injuries!’ and that was certainly what it was. Ryan saved 2 game balls in the first before finally closing it out at his third attempt 13/11.

Parke looked to have the upper-hand in the second jumping to 7/1 Ryan fought back impressively to lead 10/8 but Parke rallied and squeezed it out 12/10. Ryan bounced back to win the third but Parke cheered on by the crowd (Parke has played for Aberdeen for many years) desperately fought his way back into the match to tie it up at 2-2, thus setting the ‘sudden death’ 5th!

A cagey first rally ended in a let, a similar second rally ended with what appeared to be a stroke for Parke, but the referee thought otherwise much to the crowds disgust and they had to do it all again. Once again both players explored all four corners of the court, before Ryan threw in one of his trade mark trickle boasts and Parke was left floundering, as the Irishman raised his arms aloft.

The much anticipated showdown between arch-rivals Peter Nicol & Jonathon Power certainly lived up to expectations. Both players were welcomed on to court to much acclaim, and the capacity crowd settled in to see if Power could reverse last year’s loss in the 9 Telecom Legends event.

The first rally set the tone with both players working the ball round the court and Power dropping the ball deftly across the court into the nick. However, Nicol seemed to have the edge in the first but it was Power who managed to close it out 11/9.

 Buoyed on by the local support Nicol dug in early in the second but again Power started to assert his authority and utilising holds and flicks, as he is known to do, and jumped to a two game lead. Power clearly had the bit between his teeth as he raced to 6/1 and then 10/7 but buoyed on by the boisterous local crowd Nicol worked hard to claw his way back into it saving 4-balls and setting up a game ball of his own.

The last few rallies saw both players desperately looking for an elusive winner, each knowing that it was a pivotal moment in the match. Finally, at the fifth time of asking, Power found the necessary winner and the crowd rose as one to applaud in the words of manager Ali Gorrie ‘the greatest match in the history of the club’.

SATURDAY 24th Sep, Day TWO
SATURDAY AFTERNOON REPORT

Former world No.1 Jonathon Power opened up his Mr Chips Aberdeen Legends of Squash campaign with victory over Tim Garner at the Aberdeen Squash & Racquets Club this afternoon.

The Canadian wrapped up an 11/6, 4/11, 11/9, 11/5 win in just 30 minutes over Garner who had, just 18 hours previously, claimed his first ever victory over Peter Nicol.

Power later faces a Saturday night showdown with old rival Nicol. A win for Power will earn him a place in tomorrow’s final, whereas a win for Nicol will see the winner of Pool B decided by games and points difference. Power said: “I’m going to have to relive some of the old notebooks I have on Peter before tonight.”

In Pool A, the former world No.3 Simon Parke won his match with Anthony Ricketts by default after the Australian was forced to retire from the tournament after sustaining an injury in his match against Ireland’s Derek Ryan last night. This means the winner of Parke vs Ryan tonight will go straight through to the final.

Simon Parke bt Anthony Ricketts w/o
Jonathon Power bt Tim Garner 11/6, 4/11, 11/9, 11/5

ABERDEEN LEGENDS OF SQUASH
FRIDAY 23rd Sep, Day One

Favourites suffer shock defeats in Aberdeen openers

Home favourite Peter Nicol suffered a shock defeat to Tim Garner on the opening night of Scotland’s first Legends of Squash event at the Aberdeen Squash and Racquets Club, sponsored by Mr Chips.

The long-time friends and business partners fought out an entertaining 42-minute encounter in which Nicol took the first game 11/9, before Garner, who reached a career high ranking of No.26, battled back by taking the next two games 11/9 11/9.

Nicol wasted no time in winning the fourth 11/5 in under 6 minutes to ensure the match went to a sudden death deciding point, which is the format all the matches are using this weekend.

In a pulsating rally lasting over a minute, it was Garner who forced the error from Nicol to earn his first ever victory over the former world No.1. After the match, Garner joked: “I knew eventually I would find a scoring system to allow me to beat him.”

Garner’s victory followed an unfortunate incident in which the former world No.3 Anthony Ricketts had to retire from his match with Derek Ryan, the world’s most capped squash player from Ireland, after he suffered an injury to his ankle.

The match was level at a game all when midway through the third at 6-6, Ricketts went down when chasing a short ball. The Australian was forced to retire from the match and subsequently the tournament.

Friday evening results:

Derek Ryan bt Anthony Ricketts 7/11, 11/6, 6/6 ret.
Tim Garner bt Peter Nicol 9/11, 11/9, 11/9, 5/11, 1/0