Sarah Fitz-Gerald (#1): Sarah Fitz-Gerald, with four world championships, one British Open, and the world #1 ranking is the prohibitive favorite to win this event — except for one fact — the British Open has always provided a psychological barrier for Sarah. Last year's victory here took a hugh amount of mental pressure off of her back. And now with nothing to prove, Sarah will be able to approach the British Open in a relaxed and aggressive fashion — a fact which augers well for her chances.

Sarah's hard game strikes fear in all of her opponents and her intensive physical, skills, and mental training over the past two years have only strengthened her competitive advantage.

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Carol Owens (#2): The "other girl" from Melbourne, Carol Owens, has been in close rivalry with Sarah Fitz-Gerald since they were bouth youths in Australian junior squash. Now, on the world scene, they are one and two — and Carol now plays for rival Australasian nation New Zealand.

Carol has been playing extremely well this spring, though she had a serious letdown at last week's Hurghada event, where she was out-duelled by Natalie Pohrer.

If Carol can play aggressively and patiently as she did in Hartford in January, she could give Sarah a very difficult run for her money.

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Natalie Pohrer (#9): Natalie Pohrer, taking on the odds by basing herself in the United States (St. Louis to be exact), is playing much better than her current #9 ranking would suggest. One of the problems with the ranking system is that it is 3-6 months behind the current form of players moving rapidly up or down the pecking order. In this case, Natalie is clearly playing at top-three form coming in the British Open.

With all the momentum in her favor, this may be Natalie's best chance to snag the British Open — and she is probably well aware of that. Natalie will be an extremely tough opponent for anyone who draws her. Natalie is placed in a relatively easy quarter. Look for a wonderful semi-final between Pohrer and Fitz-Gerald.

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Cassie Campion (#4): Cassie Campion, at 29, says she will be in the ring for the next four or five years. Why? Her goals are to win the British Open and to repeat with another World Open. To accomplish that she will need to regain the magic she had in late 1999 when she scored her wonderful wins over Michelle Martin. But she will need to avoid the tactical errors that reared their heads in her British Open 99 loss to Joyce and her recent losses to Natalie Pohrer.

After quitting the finals in Hurghada half way through, complaining of dangerous and slippery court conditions, Campion will need to show she has the mental toughness to win the British Open. As Sarah can attest, the British Open is a mental battle.

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Rachel Grinham (#8): Rachel Grinham, the Australian understudy to Fitz-Gerald and Owens, has quietly been putting herself in a position to challenge for the top. We like Grinham's superb athleticism, work ethic, and tactical mind.

For that reason, and because the Australians always tend to rise to the occasion at the British Open, we put Rachel in position as a contender here above several of her higher-ranking colleagues on the tour.

Look for Rachel to fight hard to improve her results recently in Egypt. Whatever the result, Rachel's matches will be great spectator action.

Vanessa Atkinson (#11): Though languishing at the number 11 position, Dutch star Vanessa Atkinson has all the equipment to challenge the top four at the British Open. Atkinson, who beat Cassie Campion last time around at the British, always plays well at this event and is due for a breakthrough.

We pick the smooth and speedy Atkinson as the dark-horse candidate for this year's British Open. If Atkinson can will herself to have the mental confidence that she can beat the top stars - she will. Look for some exciting matches involving Vanessa this week.

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