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Site updated on 02/08/2000

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Power riding high after win in Boston

NICOL RETURN ADDS TO NEWEST TOUR EVENT

By Ron Beck, Squashtalk- The addition of the Florida tour event adds a fourth major PSA event to the "North American" tour.

Can Jonathon Power garner his second title in two weeks? Can Peter Nicol come back from an injury layoff to win the title, or has he come back too soon? Can Martin Heath and Simon Parke come off of a few disappointing weeks to claim a position among the elite? Or will dark horse candidates David Evans or David Palmer rise again? All these questions will be resolved in five intense days in Miami Florida.

Between Oct 29th 2000 (Boston, the US Open) and February 10th (New York, Tournament of Champions) the world's top pros, Peter Nicol, Jonathon Power, Simon Parke, Ahmed Barada and Martin Heath will exibit top level squash to an increasingly enthusiastic North American audience.

After the topsy-turvy results of the British Open, where David Evans of Wales, unseeded in Florida, vanquished the field, these four upcoming events stand to have a significant impact on the coming year's rankings.

Recent history in the rivalry between Jonathon Power and Peter Nicol has shown a pattern where first one and then the other gains the upper hand for a string of events. 2000 has been largely Nicol's year, where after his failure at the Tournament of Champions ("just another tournament" he said with a shrug at the time"), Nicol ran off an impressive string of victories, shrugging off opposition from Power, Barada, and Parke in Antwerp, Ireland, Egypt, and Hong Kong.

Then, with Nicol's sudden withdrawal from the British Open, it looked like the door was open for Power to win a second British Open, but Power faltered in the face of David Palmer from Australia.

Last week in Boston, Power came back with a vengeance, fit, focused, and motivated. He systematically took apart the field in Boston, gathering his second US Open title.

Jonathon Power warms up for the PNC Open (photos © 2000 Debra Tessier for Squashtalk)