Nicol Blown Away In Windy City Upset

England's world No3 Peter Nicol suffered the worst possible start to his 2005 campaign when he was knocked out of the first round of the SSA Global Windy City Open, the first major PSA Tour event of the year.

Laurens Jan Anjema (pictured) may not yet be a household name in the world of squash, but the Dutch qualifier pulled off a major upset by beating the former world No1. LJ to his friends was in a zone, and dominated Nicol from start to finish with virtually error-free squash. He took the ball early, pinning Nicol deep in the back corners and then punishing the loose returns with tight drops and sharp kills.

Ranked 36 in the world, Anjema took a 7-3 lead in the first game and then closed out the game 11-5. At 4-4 in the second he again took over. Nicol looked uncharacteristically error-prone as he tried to find away to move Anjema off the T. Anjema quickly wrapped up the second 11-6. Nicol finally started to find some rhythm in the third as Anjema started to slow down.

At 7-2 it looked as if the Englishman might be beginning to take control. But Anjema had other ideas. He fought back to 6-8 and then with two inch-perfect backhand drop shots tied it at 8-8. Anjema took the lead after finishing off a tremendous rally with a wrong-footing backhand boast. A forehand drop took him to match ball and a Nicol tin capped the Dutchman's best win of his life.

Anjema now faces fifth seed John White, the former world No1, now No12, who beat Canada's Graham Ryding 11-7 11-8 11-8.

Defending champion Nick Matthew also crashed out of the event at the first hurdle. The sixth-seeded Englishman was beaten 11-8 6-11 11-8 7-11 11-8 by Egyptian qualifier Wael El Hindi.

1st round:
[1] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 11-5, 11-10 (2-0), 11-5
[Q] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt [6] Nick Matthew (ENG) 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8 (80m)
[4] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [Q] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-3, 11-2, 6-11, 11-4 (40m)
[8] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Anthony Ricketts (AUS) 11-3, 11-7, 11-9 (35m)
[5] John White (SCO) bt Graham Ryding (CAN) 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 (32m)
[Q] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt [3] Peter Nicol (ENG) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (40m)
[7] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [Q] Simon Parke (ENG) 11-4, 11-2, 11-4 (30m)
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Dan Jenson (AUS) 11-4, 11-4, 9-11, 11-9