Latest Tournament News - Karim Darwish vs. Peter Nicol

Welcome to the Virtual Spectator Bermuda Masters 2006 presented by Logic and hosted by Endurance - a festival of squash hosted in paradise.

April 5th 2006

Karim Darwish vs. Peter Nicol

Edwards talks about the success of Children's Health Week. He introduces Korin Knight, winner of the scholarship last year. Edwards asks him if he has any preference for whom he wants to play - Korin says 'No'. Edwards says it will be an Englishman and introduces Jonathon Kemp. Have they met before? Kemp relies - 'Not yet.' They go on court - Edwards is the ref with, as he says, 'No bias'. They begin play. Korin wins the serve. Korin wins 6-4. Edwards says - 'Another victory for Bermuda'.

Edwards talks about a 'special match'. He first introduces the Egyptian Karin Darwish, number 11 in the world and ex World Junior Champion.

Edwards now says this is a 'magic moment' - one of the 4 best players to ever hit a ball. He has won on almost every court in the world. Today is his birthday, and this year is his last appearance as a player in Bermuda. Edwards asks for a standing ovation for - Peter Nicol, an all-time great.

As the players warm up Edwards asks his fellow tour players for comments - all are glowing in their praise for him. Nick Matthew says that this is not his last game, and that Nicol wants another three matches here in Bermuda. He wants to win.

Game 1

  • Darwish serving from the left.
  • Hard-hitting first rally ends in let play.
  • Fantastic cross-court to the back right from Darwish. 1-0.
  • Backhand into the nick at the front left from Darwish. 2-0.
  • Good depth from both players. Darwish plays a cross-court to the left which Nicol cannot pick up. 3-0.
  • Let play, then a disguised boast from Darwish wins the point. 4-0.
  • Darwish awarded a stroke. 5-0. Nicol then plays a ball down. 6-0.
  • Nicol plays ball down. 7-0.
  • Reaction drop from Darwish is a winner. 8-0.
  • Darwish awarded a stroke down the left side when impeded by Nicol. 9-0.
  • Nicol plays a great winner. 1-9.
  • Nicol plays ball down. 10-1 game ball.
  • Another ball from Nicol played down. Darwish wins game 11-1.

Game 2

  • Darwish serving.
  • Darwish tins a ball down the right. 1-0.
  • Nicol under pressure - but rally ends in let call.
  • Darwish appeals for a let at the front left. It is denied. 2-0. Nicol now has more points than he
    had in the entire first game.
  • Crowd gasps as Nicol is awarded a let rather than a stroke.
  • Nicol plays the ball down. 1-2.
  • Nicol makes 4 great recovery shots under pressure, then plays ball back to himself. Stroke to Darwish 2-2.
  • Nicol tins an easy shot. 3-2 to Darwish.
  • A hard-hitting rally, ends in a let call. Then another let call.
  • Darwish plays ball out of court down the left side. 3-3.
  • Darwish plays ball down. 4-3.
  • Darwish awarded a stroke - 4-4.
  • Let appeal from Darwish denied. Nicol serving 5-4.
  • Tight shot into the back left corner from Nicol is unreachable by Darwish. 6-4.
  • Stroke to Darwish. 5-6.
  • Nicol looking tired. Darwish playing some great cross-courts.
  • Drop shot from the back left from Darwish hits the nick. Great winner. 6-6.
  • Darwish denied a let down the left. 7-6 to Nicol.
  • Two let plays. Then Darwish puts pressure on Nicol and drops front right. 7-7.
  • Fantastic boast from Darwish has Nicol beat. 8-7.
  • Nicol tins a ball front left. 9-7 to Darwish.
  • Two great drops from Nicol. The second is too good for Darwish. 8-9.
  • Nicol now playing more drops and putting pressure on Darwish. He wins the point. 9-9.
  • Nicol awarded a stroke. 10-9 game ball.
  • Crowd gasps as Darwish awarded a let. They feel it should have been a stroke.
  • Darwish plays a ball down the left line and it is too good. 10-10 tie-break.
  • Darwish plays a drop into the front left which is too good for Nicol - he trips trying to make the shot. 11-10 to Darwish.
  • Great drop across the face of the court from Nicol has the crowd cheering. 11-11.
  • Nicol then tins the ball. 12-11.
  • Darwish finishes off with a superb cross-court into the nick at the left. 13-11. Darwish now leads match 2-0.

Game 3

  • Darwish serving
  • Nicol drops return of serve into right for a winner. 1-0.
  • Nicol plays the ball down. 1-1.
  • Nicol tries to drop another service return front right and tins it. 2-1.
  • Another boast from right side from Darwish is a winner - very effective shot tonight. 3-1.
  • A disguised down the right line shot from Nicol wrong-foots Darwish. 2-3.
  • Drop from Nicol is too good. 3-3.
  • Great controlled rally from Nicol leaves Darwish exposed at the front. Nicol capitalises with cross-court to the back left. 4-3 Nicol.
  • Round-the-walls shot into the nick from Nicol. 5-3.
  • Long, tough rally has Nicol playing a winner from the front left. Crowd applaud. 6-3.
  • Another Nicol winner. 7-3. Then Darwish fails to return service. 8-3.
  • Another winning drop front left from Nicol. 9-3.
  • Point for Darwish. 4-9.
  • A rally of drops has Darwish playing the best. 5-9.
  • Nicol plays a down the line winner, then is awarded a stroke. Nicol wins 11-5.

Game 4

  • Nicol serving
  • Drop from Nicol front right. 1-0.
  • Darwish playing better depth than Nicol early on. Darwish then denied a let call. 2-0.
  • Great recovery drop from Nicol front right takes him to 3-0.
  • Nicol plays a controlled rally - but it ends in a let play.
  • Fantastic boast from the back left by Nicol takes him to 4-0.
  • Another quick point from Nicol - 5-0.
  • Tough rally ends in let play. Then Nicol plays a cross-court from front left for a winner. 6-0.
  • Nicol awarded a stroke. 7-0.
  • Two easy points for Nicol 9-0.
  • Drop from Darwish is too good. 1-9.
  • Drop to front right from Nicol is a winner. Then Darwish hits the tin. Nicol wins 11-1.

Game 5

  • Nicol serving
  • Winning drop front left from Nicol. 1-0.
  • Nicol awarded stroke after long rally. 2-0.
  • Darwish plays a tight shot down the line - too quick for Nicol. 1-2.
  • Darwish errors trying to recover drop. 3-1 Nicol.
  • Darwish disputes a denied let call. 4-1 Nicol
  • Right hand deep line drive from Darwish too good. 2-4.
  • Great drop from Nicol front left is unreachable. 5-2.
  • Stroke awarded to Darwish twice in a row. 4-5.
  • Nicol cannot retrieve a Darwish shot. 5-5.
  • Nicol plays a sublime drop front right. 6-5.
  • Darwish hits nick on return of serve. 6-6.
  • Nicol hits tin on attempted drop. 7-6 to Darwish.
  • Nicol plays a winning drop front right. 7-7.
  • Darwish tins a ball down the left. 8-7 Nicol.
  • Set of drops from both players - Darwish plays winner front right. 8-8.
  • Disguised shot from front left down the line is too good for Darwish. 9-8.
  • Darwish tins a ball down the right. 10-8 match ball Nicol.
  • Nicol ends it with sublime drop front right. Wins game 11-8.

Our Summary
A great advertisement for the game of squash. A clean, tight match from both players. Darwish started strongly with some hard-hitting power play - Nicol struggling to score a point in the first game. But Nicol then seemed to get stronger as the match went on - more drops later on made a difference, although it still could have gone either way at the end. He lives to fight another day after coming back from 2-0 down.

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