Prince Celebrates English Open Squash Double
The opening event of the new squash season provided a sensational double success for Prince when Peter Nicol and Jenny Duncalf won the men's and women's titles, respectively, in the Mamut English Open at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Nicol's victory marked a remarkable return to form for the former world number one who has been a highly-valued member of the Prince team for more than 14 years.
Currently ranked a ten-year-low world No5, Nicol underwent a major training programme this summer – and showed signs of his rejuvenation and new motivation for the game when he won the World Games crown last month, crushing France's world champion Thierry Lincou in the final in straight games.
The triumph marked his 50th major international title – but his first using a prototype new Prince racquet for the first time.
A month later in the final of the English Open - a five-star PSA Tour event which he stages via his Eventis Sports Marketing company - third seed Nicol defeated local hero Nick Matthew, the Sheffield-based fifth seed, 11-8 11-9 11-3 in 53 minutes.
"This was a vintage Peter Nicol performance," said Prince International Player Promotions Manager Andy Bunting. "He played magnificently throughout the event – and the mark of his incredible return to form is that he has now not dropped a single game in two successive tournaments, while facing world-class opposition."
In a typically modest response, after his long-awaited first success in one of his own tournaments, Nicol himself said: "I was pleased with that – I did the job! It was a good solid performance, which is what I hoped I'd be able to deliver after the tough training programme I've been through this summer."
Fellow Prince player Jenny Duncalf has also noticeably raised her game after an intense summer training programme. The 22-year-old from Yorkshire faced England team-mate Vicky Botwright in the women's final.
In a gutsy performance which lasted a marathon 75 minutes, Duncalf reversed the result of their previous two meetings this year to beat her higher-ranked opponent 1-9 9-3 9-2 8-10 9-5.
Peter Nicol was using the new Prince O3 squash racquet, which will not be available in retail outlets until November. The racquet is the latest development in the brand's pioneering O3 technology breakthrough, which was launched to worldwide acclaim in tennis earlier this year.
"The new racquet represents, without doubt, a significant new development by Prince," said Nicol after reaching his half century of international titles. "The sweetspot is huge and the added power off the wall paid huge dividends in my World Games victory – I will definitely be using the racquet all the time from now on."
Duncalf is a devotee of the recently-launched Prince M+ Pro racquet, with which fellow Prince team member John White has already won two titles this year.
Prince is the established industry leader in the development and manufacturing of performance racquet sports equipment that is proven at the highest level of competition and used by both professional athletes and aspiring recreational players. Prince Sports, Inc., the parent company, is based in New Jersey, USA, and the International HQ, Prince Sports Europe Ltd, is located in London. Prince Sports, which holds more patents than any other racquet company, revolutionised the game of tennis with its introductions of the "Oversize", "Longbody"®, "Triple Threat"® and "More"® racquets; it reshaped squash with its innovative "Extender"®; "Triple Threat"® and "More"® racquets; and redefined badminton with both "Y-Joint" and "More"® technologies. In 2005, the brand introduces O3, a breakthrough in tennis engineering and technology that increases the sweet spot by up to 54%, enabling players to hit their best shots, more often. Today, Prince Sports has operations on three continents and distribution in over 100 countries.