Day Eight….15.2.04….Semi-finals

Norfolk's Cassie Jackman, the Norwich based World No1, moved inexorably to a record sixth British National Squash Championship title at SportCity, Manchester yesterday with a 41 minute 9-3 9-1 9-5 win over Linda Charman, the second seed from Sussex, that completed a run through her  17^th  campaign in the event in which she dropped only a single inattentive game to Fiona Geaves of Gloucester in Saturday's semi-finals.
     Charman had played with complete authority in that semi-final session to easily contain the burgeoning talent of Yorkshire's  21-year-old Jenny Duncalf  9-4 9-2 9-5, also in precisely 41 minutes strangely enough, but against the more severe rallying of the 3l-year-old defending champion she found that level of confidence only in a sharp little counter-attack from 0-6 to 5-6 in the third game which then ran out into a series of unforced errors, including a couple of serves straight out  of court..
    Errors were also central to a first title win by John White, the top seeded 30-year-old Australian born, Nottingham based, Scottish No1, who defeated Yorkshire's Lee Beachill 17-16 17-14 14-15 15-8 in an 82 minute men's final.
    Beachill, the 26-year-old from Pontefract appearing in his fourth successive final, and  the first man to win back-to-back British National titles when he took  the  2002 final from Peter Nicol, had game balls in each of the first three games, but slipped from 14-13 in the first on a slightly questionable penalty stoke call in the forehand court, gave away the second from 14-11 with four unforced tinned errors after White took a racket blow to the mouth, then took the third from 11-14 after giving away a penalty stroke in the top left corner only to see his opponent also hit the tin four times as he strove for a spectacular finish.
    The four mistakes from Beachill in the second game were extra-ordinary. He picked up a speck of rubbish from the court floor after the blow to White's mouth and smiled in relaxed fashion as a Pontefract wag in the crowd called :  "It's jooost a bit of tooongue, don't fret !" But the normally precise third seed then scratched a backhand pickup into the tin, crashed a deliberately tempting high ball on his forehand  almost into the floor, put a forehand crosscourt pickup in the tin and finally volleyed aggressively too low.
    White cleaned up the game with a clinical backhand crosscourt kill and a crisp backhand angled drop that left is opponent groping.
     The third game was nip and tuck until the Australian born Scot eased away from 10-10 to establish game ball on 14-11. Then, almost in echo of Beachill's earlier performance, he hit a forehand pickup from the nick into the tin. A big backhand angle down, a forehand boast short and, having adventurously called for a single point tiebreak when he was on the losing run, struck a heavy backhand crosscourt resoundingly into the tin.
    "The last time I won a match with scorelines like that was the Cyprus Open about ten years ago White told SquashNow. The guy I beat then was much happier than Lee was tonight."
    White, who had fought long and hard to get past Alex Gough of Wales and Adrian Grant of Kent to reach his first British final, finished the stronger and ran through the fourth game in five hands, with Beachill again finishing on a tinned error; a backhand return of service.
    Beachill might have been expected to have the greater reserves. He had a straight games win over James Willstrop in the quarter-finals and was required to play only one real game against the second seeded defending champion, Peter Nicol, who broke down in their semi-final on Saturday, acknowledging at the end of the second game, after just 33 minutes of increasingly spasmodic play, that for the first time in his career he preferred to stop.
    "Considering the  bad preparation I had coming into this tournament, with a poisoned blister on my foot, I played pretty well getting to the final, but I did not play the second game very well and then John raise his game in the last and I couldn't stay with him."
    Charman, conversely, made her best attempt for a first title from four final appearances in the third game. Jackman's remarkable eight-year unbeaten record against Charman look threatened when the 32-year-old from Eastbourne won five points in a row from 0-6 down.

    "She did to me what I've been doing to others all week," said Charman told SquashNow afterwards.  "Her length was so good she rarely let me into the game.  I've been feeling so good all week, I was really hoping this could be my year, but Cassie was just too good," added the England No2, now a runner-up in the event on four occasions.

     Jackman was in a jubilant mood after her historic victory:   "I was pleased with the way I played, and with my movement," added the renewed champion, who reclaimed the world No1 ranking this month after winning five titles on the WISPA World Tour last year, and celebrating her 50th appearance in an international final.

    "I saw Linda's match last night, and I knew I had to play well to beat her, and I did.  I was concentrating on every point," she told  SquashNow. 
    "I suppose she was determined last night to put Jenny in her place," Jackman said. "We oldies like to keep the up coming players at arms length if we can. But I have played Linda many times and I have not lost to her in this event since 1996. I knew my game plan for her and I went on to play patiently, waiting for the openings. It went well except for a couple of silly errors in that third game run."
    The patience was not particularly  evident at the start of the final as Jackman stepped forward to crash a short forehand straight into the top left nick, nor in the very last rally as she reached eagerly for a floating ball high on her forehand and killed it dead in the same nick. "If the shots are there you have to take them," she acknowledged with a smile. "You have to play the rallies patiently to create those opportunities, though."
    Jackman's  final victory was  her fifth in a row for this title and, with the one she collected back in 1993, took her past the record established by Sue Cogswell in 1980. "I don't think I have ever held an actual record before," she said. "It gave me such a buzz to be introduced on court as the world's leading player and to come off it as the national title record holder."
    Out of the sport at various times with ankle injuries and twice for spinal surgery, Jackman took the World Junior title in 1991 and went straight onto the WISPA World Tour. She won the World Open title 1999 and the next year briefly held the World No1 position. Over the past year pursued New Zealand's Carol Owens diligently and took over again as World No1 when Owens retired after beating her in the World Open final.
British National Squash Championships
SportCity, Manchester
Men's Final Result:
[1] John White (Scot) bt [3] Lee Beachill (Yorks) 17-16 17-14 14-15 15-8 (82m)

Men's Semi-final Results:
[1] John White (Scot) bt [6] Adrian Grant (Kent) 15-11 11-15 15-9 15-8 (79m)
[3] Lee Beachill (Yorks) bt [2] Peter Nicol (Yorks)  15-11 15-6 ret  (33m)

Women's Final Result:
[1] Cassie Jackman (Norfolk) bt [2] Linda Charman (Sussex) 9-3 9-1 9-5 (41m)
Women's Semi-finals:
[1] Cassie Jackman (Norfolk) bt [4] Fiona Geaves (Glos) 9-2 9-4 0-9 9-1 (44m)
[2] Linda Charman (Sussex) bt [8] Jenny Duncalf (Yorks) 9-4 9-2 9-5 (41m)

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Day Seven….14.2.04….Semi-finals

Peter Nicol, the second seeded defending champion, today conceded his semi-final of the British National Squash Championship to Yorkshire's third seeded Lee Beachill, acknowledging at the end of the second game on the glass showcourt at SportCity,Manchester, after just 33 minutes of increasingly spasmodic play, that for the first time in his career he preferred to stop.
    "I felt OK when I went on court and I was OK in my earlier matches but, after a couple of hard rallies at about 9-5 in the second game, I found I had nothing left. I just could not get my breath and my chest was increasingly cramped.
    "It was much like the problem I had in the British Open in Nottingham last October," Nicol told SquashNow. "There I decided to play on and it left me exhausted. I have never stopped before in a match unless I was physically disabled, but this time I decided that caution might be the better part of valour."
    The reference to last year's British Open may be very pertinent. Nicol  then earned the admiration of the 750 capacity crowd at The Albert Hall in Nottingham who were fortunate enough to witness his repeated returns from the brink of exhaustion and defeat to beat Canada's fourth seeded Jonathon Power 12-15 11-15 17-14 15-13 15-12 in an astonishing 112 minute semi-final.
    Squash has often been compared to boxing in its psychology and physical demands, but rarely can any squash match have so closely resembled the boxing contest in which one combatant is pummelled almost to a standstill, needs only to be delivered of the sucker punch, and then actually begins to fight back.
    In Nottingham, suffering from flu-like symptoms before the match, Nicol admitted to SquashNow  that his worst moment then came in the huge rally at 5-3 in the first game when he realised he could not properly gain his breathing pattern."I had to change the whole basis of my game to finish rallies more efficiently and to be more clinical in my shotmaking. There were other crisis points later in the match, but that was the real low point for me"
    In fact he came back off the Nottingham canvas five times in the encounter. Power, who also put in a performance of extraordinary effort and commitment that night, suggested that this was Nicol's best performance against him in a long time. "I do not know how I could have lost it when I had him so clearly on the ropes," he told SquashNow.
    It was hard then to resist comparison to boxers who survive such encounters, but are never thereafter able to willingly approach such pain and suffering again. Thoughts of experienced squash observers turned to the Chichester match in the early 1980s when Jahangir Khan defeated Gamal Awad over 2 hours and 46 minutes in such a punishing fashion that the little Egyptian never again returned to the peaks of the game.
    Nicol said today that he underwent extensive tests after the Nottingham match. "The bloods showed nothing and apart from the usual strains and pulls I am in pretty good physical shape." He won well in Kuwait late last month but, he was a pale shadow of himself in the World Team Championships in Vienna soon after the British Open and fell out of the second round of the World Open in Lahore in December.
    "It looks as though I owe myself a really good extended rest," the 30-year-old World No2 acknowledged to SquashNow, although he is committed to the Tournamment of Champions in New York next week and the Canary Wharf  Classic. "I have always been a good healer and I can usually come back from heavy efforts in a fairly short period, but I have to admit that I cannot explain here and now what happened to me in the second game today."
    Beachill also thought the situation mysterious. "We started at a good pace and I was just normally pleased when I got away from 5-9 in the first game to reach game ball on 14-9 in one hand, but there were a couple of really extended rallies that took me to 9-5 in the second and Peter fell off the second. He doesn't often walk away from a hard rally, so I knew something was up.
    "It is not the ideal way to reach the final. Now I have to reset myself for tomorrow against  John White, the big hitter, who stopped Adrian Grant, the fastest man in this tournament, in the second men's semi-final tonight."

White won 15-11 11-15 15-9 15-8 in 79 minutes, steadying himself against a quality counter-attack from  the 23-year-old London born Halifax based Grant rather better than he did against Alex Gough of Wales in last night's quarter-finals.
    It is a first British National Final for the top seeded Australian born, Scottish registered and Nottingham based White. "It is  fantastic to reach  the final for the first time, especially after such a hard match last night," he told SquashNow.
    He lost to Gough in last year's quarter-finals and, strangely, to Julian Wellings in the 1999 second round, so he has a chance of becoming the first man to lift the title at only the third time of asking.
    His last meeting with Beachill was in the final of the Qatar Classic late last year when the 26-year-old Pontefract man took his career best win in his first PSA Super Series final, racing to a two game lead over White and raising his game after the Scot fought level just as he had two  days earlier to trounce the defending Qatar Classic Champion, Peter Nicol, to ultimately prevail 15-12 15-5 11-15 12-15 15-9 in 94 minutes.

Norfolk's Cassie Jackman, the World No1, moved inexorably towards a record sixth title earlier today with a 45 minute 9-2 9-4 0-9 9-1 semi-final win over the fourth seeded Fiona Geaves of Gloucester.
    She will tomorrow face the second seeded Linda Charman, the 32-year-old Sussex player, who fairly easily contained tonight the burgeoning talent of Yorkshire's  21-year-old Jenny Duncalf  9-4 9-2 9-5 in 41 minutes.
    Jackman's victory that clearly demonstrated her current superiority on the domestic scene, allowing her to virtually step out to think of other things during the third game while Geaves, the 36-year-old defending Over-35 champion, moved smartly up court to cut herself a 9-0 game with typical soft paced accuracy around the tin.
    Jackman denied sleepiness. "I lost my length a bit and Fi took good advantage. Everything she tried in that game came off. I put a bit more pace into the fourth and that took care of things," she told SquashNow.
    The Gloucester player actually appeared return to her own pre-occupations with her upcoming age group semi-final four hours later against Candida Wilton of Kent as the 31-year-old top seed carved her way through to her eighth national final in her 17th championship since the age of 14.
    Geaves, who went to a 14 minute straight games win over Wilton later on,  has a slight edge over Jackman with 18 national campaigns since 1985, with three final places and a win in 1995 to her credit, but even the undefended third game today did not suggest she could improve on that score in the main event.
    Duncalf weighed in at the exact opposite end of the scale. She has played ij the main draw of this event only once before, losing to Charman by a similar margin in last year's first round, and she was forced by the archaic England Squash conventions to play this most important match of her domestic career without the aid of either of the men who have guided her since she first picked up a racket in Atlanta a decade or so ago.
    While Charman was helped as usual between games by her vastly experienced touring companion, Fiona Geaves, just as she is in most  of her matches on the world circuit, young Duncalf was denied the services of either her step-father, David Pearson, or the man who advised her all the way to this semi-final, David Campion, because as members of the England Elite Coaching staff, they are required to withdraw when they might have to coach one England player against another.
    Nor was the Harrogate youngster much helped by the refereeing of Nottingham's Wendy Danzey when she was idiotically denied a let on a clearly blocked forehand as she was assembling a run to 5-1 in the third game from which she might have built a serious counter-attack.
    That said, Charman won with strength and good plain squash enhanced by the occasional flashing overhead drop, to her fourth national final; a repeat of the 2002 final that she lost in straight games to Jackman.

Full Results

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Day Six….12.2.04….Quarter-finals

Harrogate had reason to celebrate at the British National Squash Championships in SportCity, Manchester tonight as first Jenny Duncalf and then Adrian Grant won through to semi-final places for the first time against higher ranked players.
    Duncalf, the 21-year-old seventh seed who took up the game while living in Atlanta, USA, as a girl, last night stepped for the first time into the senior national limelight defeating the experienced third seed Rebecca Macree 10-8 9-6 10-8 in a 56 minute quarter-final. She will now meet the second seeded Linda Charman of Sussex, who breezed past Kent's Stephanie Brind 9-1 9-4 9-2 in 31 minutes.
    Grant, who has never before advanced beyond the second round, followed on to defeat the fourth seeded Nick Matthew of Sheffield 15-5 15-13 15-14 in 61 minutes. "We are regular training partners so we know each other pretty well," Grant said. "I knew I had to move up the court and break up the rallies to beat him on this court." He will now meet the top seeded John White of Scotland who later narrowly survived a 97 minute fast footed early ball assault  for Alex Gough of Wales 12-15 15-5 15-12 9-15 15-12.

    The  23-year-old sixth seeded Grant was born and raised in Catford, South London, becoming the first black player to earn England squash selection when included at the age of 15 in the 1995  squad that won the world junior title in Cairo. But only since he moved into the training squad gathered around David Pearson, Paul Carter and David Campion at Harrogate and Halifax has he begun to make serious senior progress.
    "I make sure I go back to London pretty often to keep the accent going," he insisted after displaying both Cockney wit and Yorkshire grit to run through the opening game in half a dozen hands, close out the second from 10-11 down and fight back from game ball down at 13-14 in the third to win a single point tiebreak with a backhand volley nick that owed much to his anticipation of Matthew's floating forehand drive for the back court.
    Duncalf, a former European Junior Champion and the stepdaughter of David Pearson, the England National Coach, has matured noticeably on the WISPA World Tour. Late last year she defeated the World No2, Natalie Grainger of the USA, in the second round of the US Open Championship in New York and soon after went on to win the Atlanta Masters beating her higher ranked England colleague, Vicky Botwright, in the final.
    Those wins were on plaster club courts, an environment in which Grainger often dislikes in comparison to the more measured  pace of the  transparent showcourts. Defeating Macree to reach a first national semi-final must rank as her best career result so far.
     "Those were my most exciting wins, but this may be more important," Duncalf accepted as she left the glass showcourt at SportCity last night. "I have never played in this sort of atmosphere before, with so many people round the big court. The older girls all talk about how difficult it is to play Rebecca, but I found it easy to concentrate on my own game. This court plays well once you find its range and for once I played without many chancy shots to the front court."
    In fact the win was better than that matter of fact description. Just a year ago Duncalf lost in straight games to Macree, the England No4, in Apawamis Open in New York. In Manchester tonight she performed in complete calm, moving neatly and choosing her shots with almost detached precision and clinching the third game from 0-7 down with phlegmatic resistance to some physical hustling and a few disadvantageous referee calls.
    White's resistance in the last match of the day was slightly more desperate after Gough returned from 1-2 down in games with a fluent and marvellously balanced counter-attack that took him to 8-3 in the fourth game playing sharp reactive volley drops and angles out of a fiercely contested driving rallies.
    It took a slightly drunken supporting call of "Come Big John, you can't lose this" from the densely crowded back terrace to inspire the tall Australian born and Nottingham based Scottish No1 to a level of reaction sufficient to bring him back from 9-15 in that game and 9-10 down in the fifth.
    "I think I know who that was. I met him about five hours earlier in the day and his breath virtually intoxicated me then," White suggested. "It did the trick, though. It got into my head just when I need to be reminded that I should be winning against Goughie and not losing to him again the way I did in the fifth game of the quarter-finals last year.
    "After 97 minutes like that, I guess you could say I am serious about winning the British National Championship this year."
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Day Five….11.2.04….Quarter-finals

Classic English squash is alive and well at Pontefract Squash Club in Yorkshire and, for the time being at least, Lee Beachill is the resident craft master .
    Beachill tonight contained the burgeoning talent of the 6 foot 5 inch World Junior Champion, James Willstrop, to win their 56 minute quarter-final of the British National Squash Championship 15-7 15-13 15-10 on the glass showcourt of the National squash Centre at SportCity, Manchester.
    In a textbook demonstration of precise and knowledgeable distribution against a known shotplayer with the longest reach in the game, the third seeded Beachill took a first senior win tournament win over his life-long club colleague and training partner in front of the quietest and most intrigued gathering of Pontefract supporters that followers of the game in Northern England could recall. The pair had never before met as mature players in a major tournament.
    The 26-year-old former champion, the first man to win back-to-back titles when he defeated Peter Nicol on this same court in 2002, admitted that the two  players knew each other's games intimately. "But I also knew it would need only a slight lack of accuracy to let James into his shot play in midcourt. Getting the ball past such a reach and technique on this court is not the easiest thing in the world," he told SquashNow.
    "It was mentally really tough. We've played so many times in practice before but never in a competition like this. I played well, but then I had to.  I managed to contain him - which is difficult with his reach."
     He was assisted by a slight lethargy in the fifth seeded  20-year-old, who has played to the final of the Kuwait Open and the semi-finals of the Swedish Open in recent weeks. "Every match he has played coming into this tournament has been a big match against leading world players," Beachill said.
    Willstrop confessed that knowledge of how much he had left on the courts of Kuwait City and Linkoping was in his mind going into the quarter-final. His nervousness was perhaps illustrated by an unusually high error count in the opening game, and although he settled well to the battle in the second, holding a 12-10 lead and moving willingly in pursuit of Beachill's fearsome delivery to all corners of the court, he faded fatally from a seven rally pace attack launched by the older man in the middle of the third.
    A weary Willstrop said:  "I was giving him too many opportunities. He put me under so much pressure and stopped me from playing the game I wanted to play. I've had a lot of squash recently, and maybe that's caught up with me."
    It was regrettable that this class men's performance was not scheduled as an example for the women's quarter-finalists who preceded Pontefract pair onto the court. Vicky Botwright, the locally based 26-year-old fifth seed more famous to date for her revealing thong-clad pictures than results in the national championship, went down for the third time in four years to Fiona Geaves, the 36-year-old fourth seed also defending her Over-35 title in Manchester.
     In a match on easy offer for whichever player settled to play basic deep court squash before flashing at the tin, Geaves displayed the eventual tenacity to gain herself  a seventh semi-final place 10-8 9-7 3-9 2-9 9-6 in 71 minutes.
Geaves first played in the championship back in 1985 and she won  in 1995 .
    The top seeded defending champion, Cassie Jackman of Norfolk, who later defeated the eighth  seeded Jenny Tranfield of  Yorkshire 9-6 9-2 9-5  in 40 unstressed minutes, must have already been deciding which dress to wear for Sunday's final. Today's win takes her to a tenth semi-final in an event she has won five times before, equalling the record of Sue Cogswell.
    To be fair to the younger Manchester girl, Botwright was handed a couple of tough no-let calls and a brace of penalty strokes by the referee, Brian Gurnett of Worcestershire, as the players advanced from 6-6, but a stronger rallying approach throughout the action might have ensured a first semi-final appearance in the top half of the draw.
    The second seeded men's defending champion, Peter Nicol , eased through later with just as little trouble, defeating the eighth seeded Mark Chaloner of Lincolnshire 15-8 15-5 15-9 in 38 minutes of complete court control to reach his sixth semi-final in a championship he has won twice before.

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Day Four….11.2.04….Men's  Second Round & Women's First Round

Lee Beachill and James Willstrop advanced with some authority today to an all-Pontefract quarter-final in the British National Squash Championships at SportCity, Manchester, that will be the first time these club colleagues and training partners have clashed in a major event as mature performers.
    Combined with a skilfully inventive 50 minute 17-14 15-7 15-10 win by Peter Nicol,   the second seeded defending champion, over David Evans of Wales in the same half of the draw, these were victories ideally representing, in opposing manner, a generational stepchange in the domestic men's game.
    Beachill, the third seeded 26-year-old former national champion  needed 43 minutes of serious application to keep at bay Peter Barker of Essex 15-7 15-5 15-4, while Willstrop, the 20-year-old 6 foot 5 inch World Junior Champion, simply outclassed the vastly experienced Simon Parke 15-13 15-11 15-9 in  48 minutes.
    Barker played second fiddle to Willstrop throughout their junior careers, but the young Pontefract giant has left that orchestration well and truly in the past. Parke is himself a former World Junior Champion and a one-time World No3, but at 31 he seems unable to find within himself the 're-invention' capability that great players need to carry splendid careers into illustrious final phases.
    Always a great scamperer with a smart squash brain, Parke could not find today a level of athletic performance to outweigh the measured and powerful control the fifth seeded Willstrop brought to the backcourt of the National Squash Centre for a match concluded with just seven refereeing decisions. "James was the world class player on that court," Parke acknowledged. "I don't think I have played against such good distribution since Jansher Khan hung up his racket."
    Nicol, also aged 31, came through against Evans in what was a fascinating clash of former British Open Champions, precisely because he judiciously introduced subtle changes of pace and stringwork at surprising and incisive moments to significantly alter the patterns of his play.
    Evans, another tall player with elastic reach and clever delay in the shot, took the early initiative against the defending champion, leading 5-2, 8-7 and 11-9 in the first game. But at 12-12 and again at 14-14, Nicol unexpectedly slipped in backhand cross court shots that died in their tracks against the lefthand nick under severe back spin, leaving his opponent leaning backwards in normal anticipation of a drilling drive from one of the game's greatest deep court ralliers. Those two shots were enough in themselves to swing the vital opening game and to place in the Welshman's mind an element of indecision that noticeably undermined the rest of his match.
    "It was something that Jansher used to do quite often in the late part of his career," Nicol confided later. "I have been working it into my training along with some other elements, especially in the front court, but it takes quite a deal of concentration to bring it into play under pressure. It is all part of the essential 're-invention'."

Nick Taylor, the local Manchester hero whose presence in the city has provided a focal point for the steady development of the game's presence on the highly sport oriented city, takes a rather different view of the ageing process. "I have had enough of it all," the 32-year-old Stalybridge player said after losing 17-14 15-13 15-8  in 60 angry and disappointed minutes to the eighth seeded Mark Chaloner of Lincolnshire.
    He went on in later conversation to explain that he had been offered a coaching position with Manchester Leisure and that this was almost certain to be his last national championship entry. "The referees seem to be getting worse instead of better," he insisted. "Year after year I have to take this sort of thing. One decision changed the course of the first game after I held a game ball, and who is to say it did not change the course of the match.
    "Me in a quarter-final against Peter Nicol on the showcourt would have sold a lot of seats tomorrow. Instead I have heard people leaving today saying they won't ever come back to watch such bad refereeing."
    Taylor, a natural audience attraction for when the action moves to the all-transparent showcourt from tomorrow, but a life-long referee baiter, seemed well on his way to that quarter-final berth against Nicol as he moved to 9-7 and 14-12 in the opening game against the well-known awkward court presence of Chaloner. But a niggle that started with the referee, Rob Ward of Essex, over a no-let call at 4-4 blew into a major dissension and a call for a change of official when Ward refused a let on a forehand cross court from Chaloner that seemed well within the reach of the slightly impeded Manchester man.
    A heated discussion between games was followed by a decision from the tournament referee, Tony Parker, to stand Ward down and bring in Peter Lawrence of Wales to finish the match. But by that time Taylor had lost the first game whilst mentally  rehearsing the argument through the last three rallies of the game, and he was never again in touch with victory.

Cassie Jackman finished her 28 minute 9-1 9-0 9-3 win over Helen Easton in the women's first round bouncing painfully on her bottom as the nuggety little Manchester girl brush her aside trying to reach a forehand drive. It was a bad moment for a player who has two spinal operations not so far back in her history, but she got back on her feet to finish the match and declared later that she was just pleased to get off the back courts.
    "This centre is great but I really hate the plaster courts here. The floors are not sprung so well and the ball is really hard to work from the front wall, so I can't wait to get onto the new glass court they bring in on a hovercraft for the later rounds. It is a great court and should give us some good play for the rest of the week.
    "If I can pick up a record sixth title here it would be the icing on the cake for me. Winning last year after the back operations was fantastic, then getting back into the game and now this month getting back to World No1 has been more than I ever hoped for. But a record for the history book would be a good way to start a new campaign at the top of then game."
    First she has to deal with Yorkshire's Jenny Tranfield in the quarter-finals, with either Vicky Botwright or Fiona Geaves looming for the semi-finals. Botwright might feel she is due a nationals win over Geaves, who defeated her 3-2 in the 2002 quarter-finals and 3-0 in the 2001 quarter-finals.
    The Manchester 26-year-old has not yet reached a national semi-final and the 36-year-old Geaves is not yet a pushover for a player who can lose her way as well as Botwright managed for worryingly extended periods today against the unseeded Laura-Jane Lengthorn  of Lancashire before clinching her 57 minute  9-2 6-9 9-4 9-7 win.
    Geaves has her Over-35 title to look after in Manchester this week but, having collected the British National Championship herself back in 1995, beating Linda Charman in the final, she will not be averse to reaching the semi-finals for a seventh time in her 18th appearance in the event.
    Charman has been in seven semi-finals since 1993, converting three of them into losing finals, and tonight she crushed a qualifier, the Derbyshire fire-fighter Laura Hill 9-0 9-0 9-0 in just 25 minutes on her way to what she hopes will be her first title.
    The 32-year-old second seeded Sussex player is engaged to Laurent Elriani of France and they have a private plan to end this week with a double celebration as he is playingtin the French National Championships as she concentrates on Manchester matters.
    She plays Kent's Stephanie Brind tomorrow, with either Rebecca Macree of Essex or Jenny Duncalf of Yorkshire to follow in the semi-finals.

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Day Three….10.2.04….Men's  First Round

If Yorkshire's third seeded Lee Beachill looked a trifle tentative in his 37 minute 15-6 15-7 15-12 first round win today over Laurence Delasaux in the British National Squash Championships at SportCity, Manchester, it was worries about the durability of his feet that held him back, rather than concerns with this particular  all-Yorkshire challenge.
    "I haven't been able to prepare as I wished," said the 26-year-old former double champion from Pontefract. "I developed a poisoned blister last month and I have been on antibiotics to clear it up. I am playing here with heavy protective strapping on my foot and it seemed to work well enough today. The question is whether the foot, with almost no natural padding left, will last long enough  to reach bigger Yorkshire clashes scheduled for the quarter-finals against James Willstrop and the semi-finals against Peter Nicol."
    Both Willstrop, the fifth seeded World Junior Champion who trains with Beachill at Pontefract, and Nicol, the second seeded defending champion who works out of London but has been registered for Yorkshire since switching from Scotland to England in 2001, progressed with similar ease yesterday in the lower half of the draw and will be hoping to build this top domestic title onto recent solid overseas performances.
    Willstrop went to the Swedish Open semi-finals after losing the Kuwait Open final to Nicol last month. But Beachill, who became the first man in the history of the National Championships to take back-to-back titles when he won in 2002, outstripped them both by taking the Qatar Classic in Doha, the richest prize on the PSA World Tour, in December. He has played in the last three national finals in Manchester and acknowledges that both the Manchester Velodrome and the new National Squash Centre at SportCity are virtually home turf.
    "That used to be very  important to me because I did not travel so well, but the Dohar result made nonsense of that," he told  SquashNow today. "The week of the Qatar Classic was almost perfect for me. Everything went exactly as it should. I can hardly say that for this Manchester week has been the same, but I am looking forward to what seems a massive event.
    "I have not actually met James in a major event since the first round here a couple of years back, and he has developed from good junior to world class performer in that time. Nicol is an old Manchester partner and rival, of course. We won a Commonwealth Gold Medal together in the doubles here in 2002, and in this event I beat him in the final that year and lost to him in last year's final.
    "And if I can get this dodgy foot through that lot, I can look forward to playing big John White, the top seeded Scottish No1 and the hardest hitter in the game, if he comes through the top half as he should.
    White later showed that he could easily justify his seeding, providing he can stay awake long enough. Against the speedy and increasingly skilled Alister Walker, a 21-year-old Harrogate based Gloucester qualifier, who might have had a game from the big-hitting World No3 but for an unlucky backwall nick and a bad referee call when he was 12-12 in the second game, he was actually muttering "boring…..boring" to himself as he went about his destructive business..
    Only Marcus Berret of Yorkshire failed to carry his seedings through the men's first round, losing 15-9 14-15 15-5 5-15 15-2 in 51 minutes to Oxfordshire's unseeded Scott Handley who is  coached by  Sue Wright, a four-times winner of the women's title.
    "Today could be a turning point in Scott's career," said Wright after the 28-year-old's victory over such a strong and experienced player. "We knew he had a chance today, and he took it. He showed his courage after coming back from behind. He is quite capable of becoming a world top thirty-ranked player before the year is out," added Wright, the former World No3 and founder of the Sue Wright Squash Academy, where Handley himself is one of the principal coaches.
    Another SWSA 'student' recorded a win in the women's event, the qualifying finals of which were completed today. Lauren Briggs, from Chingford in Essex, beat Yorkshire's Kirsty McPhee 9-0 9-2 9-3 to earn a place in the main draw against another Yorkshire opponent, Jenny Duncalf, the seventh seed.
    But local hero Nick Taylor was given a fright  before "getting rid of the cobwebs" and overcoming Gloucestershire's Alex Stait in five games.
    The 32-year-old ninth seed from Stalybridge near Manchester, runner-up three years ago, had to fight back from 1-2 down in games before beating Stait, now based nearby in Alderley Edge, 15-11 7-15 5-15 15-9 15-3 in 69 minutes. Taylor now faces former England captain Mark Chaloner, the eighth seed from Lincolnshire who brushed aside Surrey 'lucky loser' Toby Mortimer 15-2 15-4 15-1 in just 23 minutes.
    "I struggled with my game plan in the early part of the match, and Alex really dominated the play in the second and third games," admitted Taylor later. "I knew I had to get my discipline back and managed to win the fourth - and, as Alex was visibly tiring, cruised to victory in the fifth.
    "Alex and I have trained a lot together recently. It's great that more and more players like him are moving into the Manchester area. It's good for squash in the north west.
    "I feel great now. It was good to get rid of the cobwebs, and I'm really looking forward to my match with Mark tomorrow. It'll be quite similar, I think, though I'm glad I've had more of a workout today than he did," added Taylor.
    One north west hero who failed to keep his dreams alive was Phil Whitlock, the one-time Manchester-based 41-year-old who fought his way back into the tournament from the qualifiers after a ten-year absence.
    The reigning British National Over-40 champion faced Londoner Adrian Grant, the sixth seed who was two years old when Whitlock made his Nationals debut in 1983. The underdog, originally from Devon and now based in Colwyn Bay, took the first game; but talented left-hander Grant soon took the upper hand and wrapped up a 9-15 15-7 15-6 15-7 victory in 60 minutes.

Updated Women's First Round Draw:
[1] Cassie Jackman (Norfolk) v Helen Easton (Lancs)
[8] Jenny Tranfield (Yorks) v Dominique Lloyd-Walter (Middx)
[4] Fiona Geaves (Glos) v Alison Waters (Middx)
[5] Vicky Botwright (Lancs) v Laura-Jane Lengthorn (Lancs)
[7] Jenny Duncalf (Yorks) v [Q] Lauren Briggs (Essex)
[3] Rebecca Macree (Essex) v [Q] Becky Botwright (Lancs)
[6] Stephanie Brind (Kent) v [Q] Vicky Lankester (Warwicks)
[2] Linda Charman (Sussex) v [Q] Laura Hill (Derbyshire)

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Day Two….9.2.04….Men's Qualifying Finals
    Whitlock Winds Back The Clock In Manchester
Exactly ten years after making his last appearance in the event, 41-year-old Phil Whitlock has fought his way through the qualifiers to earn a place in tomorrow's's first round of the British National Squash Championships at the National Squash Centre in Sportcity, Manchester.
    Whitlock made his debut in the event in 1983 - 21 years ago - and won the title in 1993. Raised in Devon, he spent many years based in Manchester before moving to Colwyn Bay in Wales more than seven years ago. He bravely fought back from a game down against Yorkshire's Ashley Flathers in tonight's qualifying finals to beat the 20-year-old from Heckmondwike 6-15 15-11 15-11 15-7 in 62 minutes.
    The reigning British National Over-40 champion will face sixth seed Adrian Grant, the London-born world No21 from Halifax, in the first round.
    Stockport's Andy Whipp also claimed a place in the main draw after a local derby clash with Lancashire's Peter Billson, from Withington. Whipp was leading 6-15 15-12 15-8 13-6 when Billson retired with an injury. Whipp faces defending champion Peter Nicol, the World No2 from London, in the opening round.
    Surrey's Toby Mortimer could count himself as the luckiest loser in tonight's qualifying finals. Given byes through to the finals after withdrawals by his earlier opponents, the 18-year-old from Tatfield - ranked 12 in the England U-19 rankings - faced Ireland's World No61 Liam Kenny in his first match. Despite losing in straight games in 28 minutes, Mortimer was picked as one of three lucky losers to fill in for late withdrawals by first round players. The Surrey teenager will take on Lincolnshire's eighth seed Mark Chaloner.
    Then last night Paul Hargrave developed an ankle injury, allowing Laurence Delasaux in as a lucky loser against Lee Beachill and, on the morning of the first round, Jonathan Kemp withdrew with a back and groin problem, which meant David Evans moved up to 16th seed and everyone above Kemp's position moved up, with Galen Le Cheminant re-entering as the fourth lucky loser of this men's event.

British National Squash Championships
Sportcity, Manchester

Updated Men's Draw:

[1] John White (Scotland) v [Q] Alister Walker (Glos)
[13] Stephen Meads (Berkshire) v (LL)Rob Sutherland (Wales)
[7] Alex Gough (Wales) v [Q] Phillip Barker (Essex)
[15] Ben Garner (Surrey) v Tim Vail (Sussex)
[4] Nick Matthew (Yorks) v [Q] Liam Kenny (Ireland)
[14] Marcus Berrett (Yorks) v Scott Handley (Oxon)
[6] Adrian Grant (Kent) v [Q] Philip Whitlock (Devon)
[12] Peter Genever (Sussex) v [Q] Daryl Selby (Essex)
[10] Simon Parke (Yorks) v [Q] Joey Barrington (Somerset)
[5] James Willstrop (Yorks) v John Rooney (Ireland)
[11] Peter Barker (Essex) v (LL)Galen le Cheminant (Cambs)
[3] Lee Beachill (Yorks) v (LL)Laurence Delasaux (Yorks)
[9] Nick Taylor (Lancs) v Alex Stait (Glos)
[8] Mark Chaloner (Lincs) v (LL)Toby Mortimer (Surrey)
[16] David Evans (Wales) v [Q] Sam Miller (Warwicks)
[2] Peter Nicol (Yorks) v [Q] Andy Whipp (Cheshire)

Men's Qualifying Finals Results:
Daryl Selby (Essex) bt Galen le Cheminant (Cambs) 15-8 15-8 8-15 15-11
Sam Miller (Warwicks) bt Rob Sutherland (Wales) 15-7 13-15 15-10 15-10
Alister Walker (Glos) bt Laurence Delasaux (Yorks) 15-12 15-13 15-6
Andy Whipp (Cheshire) bt Peter Billson (Lancs) 6-15 15-12 15-8 13-6 ret inj.
Phillip Barker (Essex)bt Rickie Davies (Wales) 15-10 15-12 15-4
Joey Barrington (Somerset) bt Matthew Crowley(Wales) 15-113 15-10 15-4
Phil Whitlock (Devon) bt Ashley Flathers (Yorks) 6-15 15-11 15-11 15-7
Liam Kenny (Ireland)bt Toby Mortimer (Surrey) 15-4 15-7 15-6

Men's Second Round Qualifying Results:
Galen le Cheminant (Cambs) bt Chris Ryder (Herts) w/o
Daryl Selby (Essex) bt Chris Simpson (Hants) 14-17, 15-13, 15-5, 15-13
Sam Miller (Warwicks) bt Chris Hall (Surrey) 15-13, 15-7, 15-4
Rob Sutherland (Wales) bt Duncan Walsh (Notts) w/o
Alister Walker (Glos) bt Tom Richards (Surrey) 15-8, 15-7, 15-11
Laurence Delasaux (Yorks) bt Scott Fitzgerald (Wales) 13-15, 15-11, 15-4, 15-4
Andy Whipp (Cheshire) bt David Barnett (Northumbria) 10-15, 15-13, 15-13, 15-8
Peter Billson (Lancs) bt Jethro Binns (Wales) 15-13, 15-4, 15-9
Phillip Barker (Essex) bt Joel Hinds (Derbyshire) 15-8, 15-10, 15-3
Rickie Davies (Wales) bt Adam Stevenson (Yorks) w/o
Matthew Crowley (Wales) bt Craig Chappell (Staffs) 15-6, 15-9, 15-10
Joey Barrington (Somerset) bt Nic Burt (Wales) 15-9, 15-7, 15-6
Ashley Flathers (Yorks) bt Patrick Foster (Ireland) 12-15, 15-10, 15-13, 13-15, 15-13
Philip Whitlock (Devon) bt Mick Elford (Surrey) 15-8, 15-12, 15-4
Toby Mortimer (Surrey) bt Greg Tippings (Wales) w/o
Liam Kenny (Ireland) bt David Harris (Kent) 15-10, 15-5, 15-3

Women's First Qualifying Round Results:
Georgina Stoker (Merseyside) bt Sarah Bowles (Northumbria) W/O
Emma Beddoes (Warks) bt Jenny Wright (Lancs) W/O
Anna Vaughan(Staffs) bt Claire Kluyver(Cheshire) 9-4 9-6 5-9 1-9 9-6
Jenna gates (Sussex) bt Jennifer Knibbs (Derby) 9-2 9-4 9-0

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Day One….8.2.04….First Qualifying Round
                     Barnett Dashes Local Hopes
Northumbria's David Barnett twice had to fight back from behind to end local Lancashire player Richard Davies' hopes of reaching the main draw of the British National Squash Championships in today's (Sunday) first qualifying round at the National Squash Centre in Sportcity, Manchester.
    Barnett survived 15-17 15-4 13-15 15-9 15-11 and will now face Cheshire's Andrew Whipp at 12.40 on Monday for a place in the qualifying finals later in the day.
    Former Manchester hero Phil Whitlock, champion in 1993, begins his 2004 campaign on Monday with a second qualifying round match against Surrey's Mick Elford, who beat Yorkshireman Andrew Learoyd 15-11 12-15 15-8 15-14 in the first round.
    Three of the world's top four players will contest the men's event in a record high-quality 2004 British National Championships draw, which gets underway at the National Squash Centre, for the second successive year, on Tuesday (8th February).
    Norfolk's Cassie Jackman, the world No1, is seeded to become the first person to win the women's title for a sixth time.

British National Squash Championships
Sportcity, Manchester

Men's First Round Qualifying Results:
Chris Ryder (Herts) bye
Galen le Cheminant (Cambs) bt Jonathan Gallagher (Devon) 15-4, 15-10, 17-14
Chris Simpson (Hants) bt Jaymie Haycocks (Shropshire) 15-14, 8-15, 15-9, 15-5
Rob Sutherland (Wales) bt Roshan Mawar (Middx) w/o
Tom Richards (Surrey) bt Thomas Phipps (Bucks) 17-15, 15-13, 15-2
Laurence Delasaux (Yorks) bt Matthew Baker (Devon) 15-5, 15-7, 15-11
David Barnett (Northumbria) bt Richard Davies (Lancs) 15-17, 15-4, 13-15, 15-9, 15-11
Jethro Binns (Wales) bt Chris Truswell (Staffs) 15-11, 15-12, 15-4
Joel Hinds (Derbyshire) bt Philip Nightingale (Surrey) w/o
Rickie Davies (Wales) bt James Wright (Leics) 14-17, 17-16, 15-8, 15-5
Craig Chappell (Staffs) bt Nick Douglas (Notts) w/o
Nic Burt (Wales) bt Oliver Davidson (Middx) 15-9, 15-12, 15-7
Ashley Flathers (Yorks) bt Robert Shepherd (Glos) 9-15, 15-10, 15-4, 15-6
Mick Elford (Surrey) bt Andrew Learoyd (Yorks) 15-11, 12-15, 15-8, 15-14
Toby Mortimer (Surrey) bt Thomas Javanaud (Cheshire) w/o
David Harris (Kent) bt Michael Pearson (Lancs) 5-15, 15-7, 15-9, 15-7

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              White Over Nicol For British Title ?
Peter Nicol, the men's defending champion, has been displaced as top seed for the  2004 British National Squash Championships in Manchester by Scotland's John White, the Australian World No2 who took the first Prince English Open title in Sheffield last year.
    Norfolk's Cassie Jackman is seeded to win a record sixth women's championship when she defends the title in Manchester.
    The 2004 British National Squash Championships show three of the world's top four players contesting the men's event for the first time. Both the Nottingham based White and the London based Nicol, a former World and Commonwealth Champion and long time World No1 until overtaken by Thierry Lincou of France at the turn of this year, will face qualifiers in the first round.
    Yorkshire's Lee Beachill, whose sensational victory in December's Qatar Classic has taken him to a career-high World No4 ranking, will be hoping to reach the final for the fourth year in a row. Seeded three, the 26-year-old from Pontefract meets Derbyshire's Paul Hargrave in the first round, but is expected to meet his Pontefract club-mate James Willstrop, the fifth seeded World Junior Champion who made his world top twenty debut this month, in what is likely to be the pick of the quarter-final clashes.
    The fourth seed is another Yorkshireman: After a stunning run on the PSA Tour last year which took him to 11 in the world, Sheffield's Nick Matthew is expected to meet White in the semi-finals after taking on a qualifier in the opening round.
    Sussex squash star Tim Garner has been forced to withdraw from the championships. But the lucky recipient of his place as 16th seed in the draw will be his younger brother Ben Garner, the four-times Surrey champion who this month rose to a career-high World No45.
    The 23-year-old from Lingfield will face his Chichester National League club-mate Tim Vail on Tuesday.
    Gloucestershire's Alex Stait is also a beneficiary of Garner senior's withdrawal. The 24-year-old from Stroud has been elevated from the qualifying competition to a place in the first round against ninth seed Nick Taylor, the local favourite from Stalybridge near Manchester.
    Jackman, the new World No1 who last year equalled the record five-title haul by Sue Cogswell in the 1970s, faces Yorkshire's World No17 Jenny Tranfield in the first round of the women's event. Jackman, unbeaten in the event since 1998 and a finalist in the World Open Championship in Hong Kong last month, is expected to meet Linda Charman, the second seed from Sussex, in the final.
    The seedings predict that the favourite will meet Lincolnshire's Tania Bailey in the second round. The 24-year-old from Stamford has been beset by injury over the past year, since losing to Jackman in last year's semi-finals. Jackman's anticipated semi-final opponent is No4 seed Fiona Geaves. The 36-year-old from Gloucester, the 1995 champion who meets Londoner Alison Waters in the first round, will be making her 18th appearance in the event since her debut in December 1984.
    Charman, the World No7 from Eastbourne, meets a qualifier in the first round and is anticipated to meet last year's runner-up Rebecca Macree, the No3 seed, in the semi-finals.
    Lancashire interest in the women's event is led by Manchester's World No11 Vicky Botwright, the fifth seed who takes on county team-mate Laura-Jane Lengthorn, from Chorley, in the first round.
    The 2004 championships, boasting a £25,000 prize fund, will be supported for the fourth year by the Manchester Partnership, featuring Hi-Tec, Manchester Leisure Sport, Dunlop Sport, www.squashdiscount.com, England Squash, Manchester City Council, e-squash, Manchester Evening News, Goudie International, UltraFit magazine and Honda. In addition to the Men's and Women's events, the event will also include Masters Championships from Men's and Women's Over-35 to Men's Over-65.
    The world-class event will be held for the second successive year at the National Squash Centre at Sportcity in Manchester from 08-15 February. The action will be staged on the NSC's spectacular permanently-sited all-glass showcourt, which made its debut at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.
    Tickets, from £5.00 to £14.00, are available from TicketMaster - either via the special National Championships hotline 0870-602 1188 or via the website www.ticketmaster.co.uk

British National Squash Championships
Sportcity, Manchester

Championships Schedule

Sun 08 Feb 1400 1st Qualifying round

Mon 09 Feb 1200 2nd Qualifying rounds

Tue 10 Feb 1200 Men's 1st round
" 1200 Women's Qualifying finals

Wed 11 Feb 1200 Men's 2nd round
" 1200 Women's 1st round

Thu 12 Feb 1800 Men's Quarter-finals
" 1800 Women's Quarter-finals

Fri 13 Feb 1800 Men's Quarter-finals
" 1800 Women's Quarter-finals

Sat 14 Feb 1300 Men's Semi-finals
" 1300 Women's Semi-finals

Sun 15 Feb 1500 Women's Final
" 1700 Men's Final

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             Jackman Looking For Nationals Record
Norfolk's Cassie Jackman is on top of the world, but the 31-year-old from Norwich now has her sights firmly fixed on domestic matters as she preparesfor a bid to become the first woman in history to win a sixth title in next the British National Squash Championships in Manchester.
    The British Nationals will be held for the second successive year at the National Squash Centre at Sportcity in Manchester from 10-15 February. The action will be staged on the Centre's spectacular permanently-sited all-glass showcourt, which made its debut at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.
    2003 proved to be a sensational year for the squash star who made a name for herself as long ago as 1987 when, at 14, she became the youngest player ever to represent England in the World Junior Championships; a record still unbroken today!
    In January, just four months after undergoing career-threatening spinal surgery for the second time, Jackman marked her comeback with victory in the Edinburgh Open. She went on to reach eight more international finals and win four further WISPA titles, including the Las Vegas, Malaysian and US Opens. Her appearance in last month's Kuwait Open marked her 50th WISPA World Tour final, and just this week she was rewarded by a return to No1 in the world rankings.
    "Winning the Nationals title last year was a bonus. I came into the event tentatively after only getting back to playing a month or so earlier, so I was delighted to come away with the trophy and equal the five-title record," said Jackman.
    "Ever since the New Year, it seems everybody's talking about my chance of going for a new record, and I'm really excited at the prospect of doing it, and giving players in the future a new target to aim at. I really want this sixth title, and the record," added Jackman.
    "I'm really pleased with my form at the moment, it's probably the most consistent I've ever been, with five final appearances and two WISPA titles since August. I'm also enjoying my squash and my life generally much more recently, and I think that's showing in my results," explained the England No1, who marries fiancé Matt Thomas in March.
    "It'll be great to get back to the National Squash Centre where I have fond memories of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the fantastic crowds supporting the England players. It was a brilliant atmosphere, unlike anything I'd ever experienced before."
    While she has beaten all of the players she's likely to meet next week in Manchester, Cassie is not underestimating the task ahead of her: "I know it's a cliché, but I will be taking each match as it comes and not taking anybody for granted. Every tournament brings up its surprises, and I don't want to be one of them!"
    Lincolnshire's former world junior champion Tania Bailey has been forced to withdraw as the result of a throat infection.
    This marks the latest disappointment in a torrid year for the 24-year-old from Stamford who reached the semi-finals last year and was seeded to reach this year's last eight.
    The former World No4 has suffered a spate of injuries over the past twelve months, including a mystery virus which caused her to withdraw from last year's European Team Championships in Nottingham.
    Tania's place in the draw is taken by Yorkshire's Jenny Tranfield, who moves up to eighth seed and now faces Dominique Lloyd-Walter, from Middlesex, in the first round on Wednesday.
    Lancashire's Helen Easton, from Audenshaw in Manchester, is elevated to the main draw in Tranfield's place, but she will now face tournament favourite Cassie Jackman.

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          Beachill Out To Defy Nationals Seedings
Yorkshire's Lee Beachill can count himself unlucky that he is not seeded to reach the men's final of this week's British National Squash Championships at the National Squash Centre at Sportcity in Manchester.
    The 26-year-old from Pontefract, who wrote himself into the record books two years ago when he became the first man in history to win back-to-back titles, is ranked four in the world - yet such is the quality of this year's field that there are two Britons above him also competing for National squash glory at the venue which hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
    "It just proves how strong the event is," said third seed Beachill as he prepared for his first round encounter with Derbyshire's Paul Hargrave - just two months after winning one of the world's foremost titles, the Qatar Classic, in Doha.
    "It's a massive tournament and I am now trying to build on the Qatar success," the Yorkshireman explained. "It was a really important win for me and I need to capitalise on it."
    Beachill underwent ankle surgery last year and came back stronger than ever. "I'd almost written off the year after the surgery, so if somebody had told me that I would begin the next year at four in the world, I would have thought they were crazy."
    A finalist for the past three years, and winner in 2001 and 2002, Beachill has an impressive Nationals' record to maintain. But whilst he is entering the event "planning to win it", he knows that the schedule predicts a crucial quarter-final clash with his in-form Pontefract club-mate James Willstrop, the No5 seed who reached the final of the Kuwait Open last month after victories over Canada's former World No1 Jonathon Power and Scotland's World No3 John White, the top seed in Manchester.
    "James and I have been lucky over the past few years, always avoiding each other in tournaments around the world, so this was bound to happen sooner or later. If we do meet, it'll be tough as we know each others games so well - but we'll both be determined to win, without doubt.
    "I'm pleased with the way I'm playing at the moment and feel confident that I can go all the way," added the former champion.
    England's defending champion Peter Nicol is seeded to meet favourite John White in the final on the all-glass court on Sunday. White and Nicol both face qualifiers in the first round, with White scheduled to face Yorkshire's fourth seed Nick Matthew, fresh from his success at the weekend in reaching the final of the Swedish Open, in one semi-final - and Nicol to come up against Beachill, his Commonwealth Games Doubles gold medal-winning partner, in the other.


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