Anthony Ricketts showed that his knee was back in good health but the eight month layoff has taken the edge of his sharpness. He played an entertaining 75 minute match against world number one Peter Nicol - the man he beat in the quarter-finals of this tournament last year. The infamous Ricketts anger is still one hundred percent present and his verbal broadsides at the referee finally earned him a conduct warning.

Nicol’s racket work was better than ever and even when caught with his racket round his ankles, a deft flick and the ball was in one of the four corners and nobody could read which one until it was there. He seems to have developed a soft volley which entails no movement of the racket whatsoever which had Ricketts scrambling to the front. Ricketts too, had his share of winners, but in the end the 100% sharpness wasn’t there.

Nicol was also getting the breaks – a lucky bounce here, a freak nick there – which was also a thorn in the Ricketts’ confidence. In the fourth game Nicol seemed to flourish and was rarely caught short anywhere on the court. Ricketts seemed to lose his intensity from 6-6 while Nicol was still rampant and so it inevitably came to a conclusion with Nicol winnng 15-10 and a little relieved that he had survived one of the most dangerous men on the circuit.

SCORELINE: Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Anthony Ricketts (AUS) 15-4, 13-15, 15-12, 15-10 (75 mins)

Recorded with two cameras (Frontcourt and back), full match video, replays and onscreen scoring, but no narration. (only the match soundtrack)