The last meeting they had was in the recently concluded Kuwait Open where Thierry came back roaring after a 2 games to love deficit to claim victory in 5 games. Coincidentally that is the only time that James has been beaten in his career from a position of 2 games to love up, now u know why Thierry is famously known as the 'King of Comebacks'. James has been a finalist in the British Open in 2005, where he lost out to Anthony Ricketts and Thierry has been the finalist in the British Opens of 2006 and 2007, loosing to Nick Matthew and Gregory Gaultier respectively.

Game 1: 11-7 to Willstrop
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 'The James Willstrop show'.... Starring : James Willstrop, co-starring: Malcolm Willstrop as 'the coach' & a special guest appearance by: Thierry Lincou". At the risk of sounding harsh to my favorite Frenchman, I have to state that today was James Willstrop's day. The man was on a mission and the ambition was oozing out of him in everything he did on the court today, whereas Thierry just didn't exhibit that usual hunger we are used to seeing in him. Willstrop won the serve and after attacking all throughout the first rally of the match found himself 1 point down to the Frenchman who registered the first point on the board. Then very generously clipped the tin in the next rally to let Willstrop level. This was an ominous sign of things to come for Lincou. Both players matched each other point for point till 6-all, which proved to be the turning point of the match. Thierry tins in the next rally and in the following rally which drew huge cheers from the crowd gave away a stroke to James. As if this wasn't unusual enough for the usually error-free Frenchman, he went for the crosscourt nick off of James's serve and greeted the tin again. James scored the next point with a beautiful forehand counter-drop which left Thierry stranded. Following this, Thierry played his last winner of the game with a forehand drop shot which James couldn't return and then drummed the tin (in an ill-advised forehand drop shot from the back of the service box in a compromised position) one more time after making some amazing retrievals to counter James's relentless attack and thus gifting the first game to James.

Game 2: 11-3 to Willstrop
Thierry must've had a quarrel with the tin today as he repeatedly smacked it shot after shot to punish it somehow; unfortunately punishing the tin backfires in the form of negative scoring. This was not the Thierry Lincou we have seen through so many wonderful matches. He gave Willstrop a head start with another tin at the beginning to the second game and then at the score of 2-1, James served the ball out. Highly unusual for this level of play but it just reminds us mere mortals that these guys are human as well (which in a way is good to see), but James was unfazed by this ordinary display of squash on his behalf and went back to the workman like approach towards this match. At 5-1, he sprinted, twisted, turned and stretched for every ball that Thierry threw at him and was playing the part of the 'retriever' very well till Thierry hit a ball out of bounds and James's tenacity paid off. Next rally, James managed to find the tin on his favorite forehand drop shot which gave Thierry a little bit of relief seemingly. But then Thierry thundered the tin 2 times consecutively (both times on his forehand) and then hit a 3rd one out of bounds in an attempt to retrieve a deep drive from James. 8-2 to James and he consolidated this lead with another deep drive finish. 9-2 to James. This was one of the rare occasions that Thierry took control of the match (even if it was for only one rally). He made sure that James got acquainted to each and every corner of the court completely as he sent him flying from corner to corner while he himself enjoyed the scene from the T and eventually ended the rally with a beautifully held forehand deep drive that James could only admire from a distance as it faded into the back right corner. It was expected that James would be exhausted after such a 'tour-de-France' but he was up for the battle that followed and quickly scored another point with his immaculate forehand counter-drop which Thierry failed to read. James finished off the second game in fine style with the help of a backhand straight drive which died in the back corner.

Game 3: 11-7 to Willstrop
James Willstrop is revered all around the circuit for his immaculate forehand drop shots, but today it was not only his forehand drop shots, but his deep forehand drives as well which had Thierry Lincou in a world of trouble. Thierry simply failed to decipher James's forehand today, whether it was his counter-drops or his well held and flicked straight drives, Thierry never seemed at ease with the situation. In the third game, James again started pushing the issue with his forehand expertise and it paid off instantly as he rolled off two straight drives on his forehand side to claim the first two points of the third game. Thierry came back with a point of his own but James kept the pressure on when a stroke against Thierry was awarded. James scored another point with the help of Thierry's tin and then returned the favor by clipping the tin himself. Thierry was then awarded a 'no-let' which I thought to be quite a harsh decision which gave James a 6-2 lead. But the mighty Frenchman isn't fazed so easily, he came back with a stupendous drop from the deep backhand corner for which James almost dove but couldn't make contact with & just when u thought that u would see one of those amazing comebacks from the Frenchman after such bravado, he drummed the tin twice within the next 60 seconds, giving James an 8-3 lead. After this we saw a heavenly rally with both players playing their hearts out, attacking and retrieving according to the demands of those specific micro-second intervals, but James managed to hang in there and saw that point off with a crisp backhand boast which the Thierry couldn't retrieve. A huge save by James, as he was pushed to all corners by Thierry in that point and morally disruptive for Thierry who did so well to push James that well till that particular point. Such retrieving did take its toll on James though, as he drummed the tin on the next two points to give Thierry some momentum. Thierry seemed grateful for this and upped the pace again on James, only to find the tin yet again. 10-5, match ball to James, but Thierry forces James to hit out of bounds and goes back to pushing him point for point. Thierry scores with another winner to make it 10-7 and then is awarded a 'let' on a shot which I thought had a reasonable case for a 'stroke' and Thierry seemed a little jaded by that as well. People were beginning to second guess James's commanding lead at this point since Thierry seemed pumped up for a comeback but James dispatched Thierry's hopes of a revival with an almost irretrievable low tight forehand drop to register a 3 games to love win over the gallant Frenchman.

On a parting note, I believe Thierry's unforced errors became his undoing today as he made a total of 13 errors (most of those unforced) in the match and that facilitated James's entry into tomorrow's final.

Match to Willstrop: 3 games to 0

About the Author (in his own words) I am just a student here at the University of Buffalo (undergrad-electrical engineering) and as you may already know I am a total squash fanatic and a student of many aspects of our wonderful sport.

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