HEATH OUTSHOOTS, OUTPLAYS FELLOW SCOT

Heath finally gets the respect he seeks...

This Martin Heath can drive you crazy; great wins are followe by ridiculous losses.And then ridiculous losses followed by a great win. He's been doing that for the last three years and today he did it again beating Peter Nicol in the semifinal just weeks after losing in the first round of two minor tournaments. "Those losses relaxed me," he said after his monster victory. Go figure.

Mind you, I felt it in my bones. Indeed I even said to Jay Prince of SQUASH magazine that I thought there would be an upset. From the starter, there had been a personality switch between the two players - Heath was relaxed and Nicol was tense. At one point he banged his racket against the court wall in real anger. This was not the cool calm Nicol we have come to know. Nevertheless he kept his game together to win the first 22 minute game 15-12.

HEATH WINNERS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

Nicol has always beaten Heath because of his cool temperament even though Heath has more shots in his arsenal. This really came to the fore in the second game when they were poised at 6-all; Heath hit a three wall nick, a backhand drop into the nick followed by an identical shot. A backwall nick followed and then an overhead volley into the nick and then a disguised boast. In the space of a minute Heath was 12-6 ahead and from that moment on Nicol never looked comfortable. Heath led 13-10 when Nicol hit a backhand drop into the tin. It was obvious then an upset was more than possible. My "told you so" grin lit up the Vanderbilt hall.

HEATH KEEPS IT TOGETHER

Heath won that second game 15-10 and then just kept going. He is the first to admit that he can come apart at the seams very easily. Today all the stitches held tight and between them they produced some exquisite rallies with Nicol often getting out of real trouble to win the rally. But Heath won the short rallies and again in the third from 11-10 he hit a series of winners to get to game ball. Nicol hit a backhand boast to get one more point and then followed it with a backhand drop into the tin to give Heath the game 15-11.

NICOL OUT OF IDEAS

It appeared that Nicol simply did not know how to take control of the match and Heath refused to be drawn into the attrition length game that the world champion plays so well. Even when he trailed 5-10, heath stuck to his guns and and hit a superb run that took him to 14-10. Nicol had now accepted his fate and the final point was almost a given. Heath threw his hands up in the air with joy and still hadn't stopped smiling when he left Grand Central station. Nicol admitted later that he never felt comfortable on the ball due to Heath's skill and tactics.

POWER AT A CRUISE

Jonathon Power missed the excitement because he was back in his hotel changing after a very comfortable 3/0 over Derek Ryan. I counted three unforced errors from Power as he took the victory 3/0 in 47 minutes. He is playing superbly and his placement is almost faultless. Heath is loose on his backhand cross courts and must tighten that area of his game up by tomorrow. If Heath keeps his relaxed attitude together, the final could be a real classic.