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Peter Nicol wins World Open squash

Peter Nicol became the first British squash player to win the World Open when he beat Egyptian Ahmed Barada 15-9, 15-13, 15-11 in the final.

The 26-year-old second seed took 65 minutes yesterday to dispatch Barada, seeded third, in front of 5,000 fanatical supporters at the open-air Al Ahram court.

Scotland's Nicol, who lost in the 1997 final in Kuala Lumpur to Australia's Rodney Eyles and a year later in Qatar to Canadian Jonathon Power, thrived in the heat as his 22-year-old opponent, a former world junior champion, struggled from the start.

Barada's normally reliable forehand drop failed him and his feared midcourt volleying was defused by the straight, wide driving of the Scottish left-hander.

Barada fought back from 1-4 to 11-7 in the second game but Nicol launched a devastating front-court counter-attack to get back to 14-11 in a single hand.

Nicol's coach Neil Harvey said: ''He just loves to play Barada. He can prevent him from picking off volleys by playing everything close to the walls and he can take him on in the front court.''

Nicol, he said, had expected to have to tackle the more inventive and disguised play of defending champion Power in the final, only for the Canadian to retire injured from his semi-final against Barada.

''That just made him even more of Barada's worst nightmare,'' he said.

UNI