World No.2 Peter Nicol and Egypt's world No. 3 Ahmed Barada will meet in tonight's (Thursday) final of the $170,000 Al-Ahram Men's World Open Squash Championship in Egypt. Victory for Nicol, in his third successive world open final, would see the Scot reclaim the world No. 1 ranking from Canada's defending champion Jonathon Power, who crashed out of last night's semi-finals.
In the first all-Scottish World Open semi-final, Peter Nicol dropped the opening game for the second successive day before forging an 11/15 15/13 15/9 15/12 win against world No. 5 Martin Heath. The 64-minute late-night victory on the open-air court in the desert overlooking the Great Pyramids of Giza saw the 26-year-old from Inverurie gain revenge for his defeat by Heath twelve months ago on the same court in the semi-finals of the Al-Ahram International.
Barada over Power
In the other semi-final, Egypt's 22-year-old superstar Ahmed Barada thrilled the 3,500 capacity crowd with his victory over top seed Jonathon Power - his first over the Canadian since their quarter-final meeting in the US Open in October 1996. Power took a 9/0 lead in the opening game before Barada got into his stride. The 25-year-old from Toronto went on to take the game - the first that Barada conceded in the tournament - but suffered a heavy fall during the penultimate rally. The injury to his right knee caused Power to take an injury break after losing the second game, but he was unable to take an active part in the match thereafter and ultimately conceded the contest to Barada 9/15 15/9 13/3 after 48 minutes.
Barada, winner of the 1998 Al-Ahram International and now in his first World Open final, has been unbeaten on the 'pyramids' court since June 1997 when he lost in four games to Peter Nicol.
Martin, Owens
Australia's world No.1 Michelle Martin reached her sixth WISPA World Tour final this year when she beat Germany's Sabine Schoene 9/7 9/3 9/1 in 39 minutes in the semi-finals of the $41,000 Women's Al-Ahram Squash International, staged alongside the Men's World Open in Cairo, Egypt.
Martin, the event's top seed and unbeaten in 1999, will face compatriot Carol Owens, the 8th seed who upset England's third seed Cassie Campion 4/9 9/6 9/7 9/3 in a 57-minute marathon on the open-air court staged alongside Egypt's famous Great Pyramids of Giza.
