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PSA PLAYER BIOGRAPHY Name: Martin Heath Country: Scotland Date of Birth: 31 January 1973 Height: 1.83m Place of Birth: Stirling Place of Residence: Nottingham/Oban Current World Ranking (Apr 03): 11 Highest World Ranking (Oct 99): 4 National Ranking: 2 PSA Titles: 7 PSA Final Appearances: 15 |
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Martin Heath, 29, was born in
Stirling in Scotland and, after living for some time in the coastal town of
Oban in the Western Highlands, then in Edinburgh, now resides in Nottingham,
England. He made his professional debut in 1993,
appearing for the first time in the January PSA world rankings at 251. By
March 1994 he reached 100, and made his top 50 debut eight months later. Not
until September 1996 did he first break into the top 20, leaping from 29 to
19. His ranking fluctuated little in the months that followed - until
November 1998, when he became one of very few players to make his top ten
debut from a position outside the top twenty - soaring from 21 to 7, before
moving on to a career-high No4 in October 1999. Unseeded Heath's 48-minute 15-9 15-5 15-11 victory - Nicol's first defeat since claiming the sport's inaugural Commonwealth Games gold medal in Malaysia the previous month - took place in the semi-finals, and followed earlier upsets against England's Mark Cairns, Welshman David Evans, and Australian Byron Davis. Now Heath found himself in his first ever Super Series final - against local star Ahmed Barada, and around 5,000 fans urging their squash hero to win this prestigious title for Egypt. Undaunted by this wholehearted opposition, the Scot made sixth seed Barada fight for every point, before the Egyptian ultimately claimed the title 15-7 15-17 15-11 13-15 15-13 in 98 emotionally-charged minutes. This was the breakthrough that Heath's talent had
threatened for some years - the inspiration for his dramatic end-of-year No5
position in the Dunlop PSA World Rankings. After becoming the Danish Open champion in April 1996, Heath went on to secure his richest tour prize to date - beating Pakistan's top seed Zubair Jahan Khan 3-0 to win the Singapore title in October without conceding a game. Exactly a year later he was back on the winner's rostrum again, lifting the Singapore Open trophy for the second successive year - again, without conceding a game throughout the tournament. In April 1999, he reached the final of the WSF-organised Greek Open in Athens, where he lost to Mark Chaloner in five games. A week later he teamed up with Peter Nicol and former Australian John White to form the strongest Scotland entry that had ever competed in the European Championships. Heath lost to old rival Simon Parke as the squad went down 3-1 to defending champions England in one of the closest finals on record. Later in May, Heath competed in the PSA Super Series
Finals in London for the first time – but lost to Jonathon Power and Paul
Johnson in the initial pool matches. Mixed success greeted Heath in the USA in the new millennium. In February, Martin scored his second career victory over compatriot Peter Nicol to reach the final of the Tournament of Champions in New York. The fifth seed’s 12-15 15-10 15-11 15-10 triumph in 69 minutes over the world No1 - “the best win of my career” – took him into the final on Grand Central Station, where he fell in four games to top seed Jonathon Power. 2001 was “a bad year” according to Heath – in which “I was
recovering from three serious injuries, and ended up being injured in five
out of ten events!” The result was “dropping out of the top ten for the
first time in over three years.” A week later, back in Scotland, Heath scored his second successive win over the higher-ranked White in the final of the Scottish Nationals to claim his home title for the third time. Unseeded in the British Open in April, Martin took out
Canada’s Graham Ryding in the first round to claim a significant upset in
the next by knocking out Australia’s fifth-seeded Stewart Boswell in an
86-minute four-game battle. His run ended in the quarter-finals where he
lost in four to fourth seed Thierry Lincou. |
MARTIN HEATH TOURNAMENT SUCCESSES: Mar 94 Winner Mazda Championships HKG Mar 94 Runner-up Perrier Asia Classic HKG Nov 94 Winner Philadelphia Open USA Apr 95 Winner Oasis International Classic FRA Oct 95 Winner Philadelphia Open USA Apr 96 Winner Danish Open DEN Aug 96 Winner Singapore Open SIN Jan 97 Runner-up Greenwich Open USA Jun 97 Runner-up Luxembourg Open LUX Aug 97 Winner Singapore Open SIN Aug 97 Quarter-finalist *Hong Kong Open HKG Feb 98 Runner-up Flanders Open BEL Oct 98 Runner-up Al-Ahram International EGY Feb 99 Runner-up Flanders Open BEL Apr 99 Runner-up Greek Open GRE May 99 (Quarter-finalist) *Super Series Finals ENG Sep 99 Semi-finalist *World Open EGY Dec 99 Quarter-finalist *British Open SCO Feb 00 Runner-up *Tournament of Champions USA Jun 00 (Quarter-finalist) *Super Series Finals ENG Nov 00 Runner-up Florida Open USA Feb 01 Quarter-finalist *Tournament of Champions USA Feb 01 1st round *Flanders Open BEL Apr 01 2nd round *PSA Masters EGY May 01 Quarter-finalist Irish Open IRL Jun 01 Semi-finalist *Super Series Finals ENG Jun 01 Quarter-finalist Scottish Open SCO Aug 01 Quarter-finalist *Hong Kong Open HKG Sep 01 Quarter-finalist *Al-Ahram International EGY Oct 01 1st round *Qatar Classic QAT Oct 01 (4th-placed team) World Team Championships AUS Nov 01 1st round YMG Capital Classic CAN Jan 02 Quarter-finalist US Open USA Jan 02 2nd round *Tournament of Champions USA Mar 02 Semi-finalist *Pakistan Open PAK Mar 02 Winner Scottish Nationals SCO Apr 02 Quarter-finalist *British Open ENG Apr 02 1st round *PSA Masters QAT * Super Series event |