Parity Comes to Qatar
The 2004 World Open - Preview

Nov 27, 2004, By Ron Beck SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004;

The 2004 World Open starts tomorrow in Doha Qatar. The defending champion is Amr Shabana, the promising but mercurial Egyptian who came out of nowhere, last December in Lahore to win the 2003 World Title.

EGYPTIAN KILLER EIGHTH
Since then Shabana had a very lackluster year, but pulled his game together at the British Open where he unveiled a new attitude and approach. He promised all who would hear him that he was now serious about the game and put his game behind his talk with an impressive run to the finals, in which he demolished World #2 Thierry Lincou in the Semis.

Shabana should have an easy time with his first round opponent Mark Chaloner, but has to face either Mo Abbas or Wael El Hindi in a strange eighth of the event where those three Egyptians reside. If he makes it past that familiar territory, Shabana would face a rematch with David Palmer in the quarters.

Rematches often have interesting dynamics. In this case, Shabana will have had several weeks to work out a strategy to get the better of Palmer.

Beachill - Kneipp - Darwish and Willstrop
Lee Beachill, the current #1, has been a steady performer but hasn't had any dominating performances to signal his ability to defend the #1 position for the long term.

Beachill's first round matchup with Davide Bianchetti should be routine for the economical player from the North of England, but after that he will face the creative Joe Kneipp, who has the sort of offensive power to give Beachill fits.

Whoever wins that shootout will have to face Darwish, Parke or Willstrop in the quarters.

Power vs Nicol Again in Qatar?
Jonathon Power often claims that this court in Qatar is his favorite court in the world. He had a famous breakthrough win over Peter Nicol here.

This time if they meet it will be one of their earliest meetings ever - in the round of 16. Power will have to get past Dan Jenson first. Although Jenson has elevated his game back up to an elite level, he will probably not have the game to stop Jonathon here, which will set the tables for Power to repeat his win over Nicol last week in Toronto.

Lincou - Gaultier - White - Ricketts
The bottom quarter of the draw has potentially a French showdown, between Gregory Gaultier and Thierry Lincou and and Australian showdown between Jon White (OK officially a Scot) and Anthony Ricketts. The Aussie-French quarter, however it shakes out, should be a barnburner.

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