BARADA IN SHOCK DEFEAT

Number three seed Ahmed Barada, the pride of Egypt and last year's finalist here in New York, was bundled out in the second round by Graham Ryding in the first really big upset so far.

The past few months have not been too good to Ryding who is down to 14 in the rankings after having reached the top ten. A string of poor results did not augur well in the new year but as far as he was concerned, Barada is not that big a deal. In their last two meetings, in the 98 British Open and the Pakistan Open last year, Ryding came out on top.

In beating an ailing John Williams in the first round, Ryding had not played with any real flair, but against Barada he was fast, positive and full of confidence.

BARADA DROPS GAME PLAN

Although Barada won the first game 15-9, he failed to keep to his game plan, according to his coach Hashem el Attar, the man responsible for having such a effect on Barada's on court behaviour.

"Ahmed stopped playing deep after two games. Ryding is very fast to the front of the court and Barada had to nail him in the back before he went short," Hashem told me immediately after the shock defeat.

Ryding stayed with Barada all the way in the second to win 17-15, continued his pressure and almost error-free game in the third to win 13-15 and then had the satisfaction of watching Barada give up completely, to give Ryding the fourth game 15-2 in just eight minutes.

YOUTH WITHOUT MENTAL STRENGTH

When Barada's will is as strong as his massive legs, he will be unbeatable. But at 22 he can still allow a bad streak to rob him of all resolve. There were two examples of this behaviour in the world team championships in Egypt last year in front of hundreds of adoring fans. Fortunately he managed to pull out of his nosedive at the last minute. This time, he gave points away as fast as possible to get off the court. Not that Ryding needed the charity: he read Barada in all areas of the game- especially up front where he would crack Barada's smashes to the back of the court with his opponent still with his nose on the front wall. In the next round he will meet Martin Heath, who has also had some bad results. It will be anything but dull.

POWER IN FULL SWEET FLOW

Jonathon Power still comes across as a college undergrad; his clothes, hair style and constant smile gives the impression that he's having a bit of fun and there's a rich daddy waiting to give him a good job when he graduates. His opponent, long lean, David Palmer has close cropped hair and doesn't seem to find a lot to smile about.

There is not much new to write about the Power game. He reads the game well, he can hold his shot until the following day and he is incredibly fast. Unbelievably fast. So fast you can barely believe what you have just seen. On three occasions Palmer had Power roasted on the spit ready to eat with relish. On each occasion Power had dived or tripped and was on the floor, only to get up and get right into a front corner to retrieve the ball and go on to win the rally.

His disguised backhand cross-court flick still catches everybody and Palmer is no different. The Australian has gradually climbed to 12 in the world and will continue to do so, so he's nobody's fool. He gave a good account of himself and kept Power on court for 53 minutes. Appealing a let decision in the third he told the referee that Power's shot wasn't that good. Power could not let the remark go by: "I want a correction - that was a great shot." Power won 15-10, 15-8, 15-10.

NICOL SMOOTHLY THROUGH

Peter Nicol, reigning world champion and world number two seems none the worse for his run-in with gastro-enteritis last month in Aberdeen. His second round opponent was Billy Haddrell, the Aussie who bases himself in Holland, is ranked 28 and a player of long experience. He should be well up in the rankings but a period of being a bit of an enfant terrible has kept him lower in the pecking order than he should be. Peter had too much for him and won in three in 45 minutes. If Peter Marshall beats Paul Johnson, Nicol will find himself facing a man with even more determination than himself.