Palmer dominated the opening exchanges of his eagerly anticipated final against his younger rival and extended his dominance of the first two games deep into the third. However, looking destined to lose his second British Open final in straight games, as he had against Palmer’s compatriot Anthony Ricketts in 2005, Willstrop fought back to level the match and forced a 9-6 lead in the decider.
Having squandered the early initiative, the battle-hardened Australian was made to save two championship balls before eventually breaking Willstrop’s resistance 11-9 11-9 8-11 6-11 11-10(3-1) in a 111-minute thriller that will go down as one of the most dramatic men’s finals in the championship’s illustrious eighty-year history.
Both players were clearly exhausted, but fought for every point, causing gasps of amazement from the capacity crowd as seemingly irretrievable balls were returned from all four corners of the court. Willstrop had match balls at 10-9 and 11-10, but it was the 32-year-old Australian who ultimately prevailed in the longest match of the tournament and the longest British Open final since 1997.
After a seesaw last half of the final game, Palmer reached match ball at 12-11, then noticed that his racket was cracked and walked off court to replace it. Amazingly, the winning shot that followed was a miss hit off the frame, which ended in the sidewall nick.
“We both had a few lucky bounces”, said the four-time champion. “I don’t know what happened in the final shot. It came off my frame for a cross-court nick, but I’ll take it.”
Earlier, Nicol David, playing in her fourth successive women’s final and eager to make up for the disappointment of her shock defeat in last year’s final, defeated Jenny Duncalf, the fifth seed from England. The 24-year-old Malaysian claimed the first game in just eight minutes and raced quickly to a 7-2 lead in the second before her English rival, buoyed by a capacity and vocal home crowd, fought back to level the game.
The World No.1 quickly regrouped and extended the rallies to save a game-ball and close out the match 9-1 10-8 9-0 in forty minutes to win her fifth successive World Tour title and her seventeenth in twenty events.
Dunlop British Open – Liverpool 2008
ECHO Arena, Liverpool, England
Men’s Final:
[5] David Palmer (AUS)bt [4] James Willstrop(ENG) 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11,11-10(3-1)
Women’s Final:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt[5] Jenny Duncalf (ENG)9-1, 10-8, 9-0