Championship on two previous occasions, will need a lift when he attempts to win the title at the Devonshire Courts from February 6-9.

Ranked fourth in the world, Martin was expected to land his first major title on the world squash tour, but he crashed out of the Canadian Open in the quarter-final round.

The second seed went down 8-15, 15-6, 15-13, 14-15, 15-10 to fifth seed Danny Meddings of England, a former competitor in the Bermuda Open.

Martin regularly reaches the last eight and semifinals on the tour but the closest he came to a big title was in the US Open last season when he lost in the final to his younger brother Rodney Martin.

Rodney and world number two Chris Dittmar decided not to enter the Canadian event and it seemed that nothing could stop Brett Martin in Calgary.

With world number one Jansher Khan withdrawing through injury and Australian Tristan Nancarrow suffering a surprise second-round defeat, Martin was the only player in the top 16 to reach the quarter-finals.

And it looked plain sailing as he swept through the opening game against Meddings, the world number 21. But the bouncy court did not help Martin's shot-making style and he found it increasingly difficult to kill the ball.

The long rallies suited the Englishman's more basic style and Meddings took the next two games while the Australian became increasingly frustrated as his best shots just kept coming back at him.

Martin saved two match points in the fourth game to square the contest, and the deciding game was evenly poised when Meddings clinched victory by firing two perfect returns of serve.

World number 12 Gary Waite, who did not compete in the Canadian Open, is the other player ranked in the top 20 who is coming to Bermuda. With these two heading the list of 16 prominent players in next week's tournament -- they are ranked one and two respectively -- competition is expected to be keen once again with only the Bermuda professional Julian Rose obviously outranked by the 15 foreign players. Rose has a 105 world ranking.

Martin, winner of the inaugural event in 1989 and 1990, suffered a stunning defeat against Waite in the 1991 final and will obviously be determined to pay his opponent back with a firm defeat this time around. The field of players once again looks interesting with a good selection coming in from Australia, Pakistan, Sweden, Germany, Holland, England and Canada.

In addition to Martin and Waite the highest-ranked visiting players are Adam Schreiber of Australia (31st), Zubair Jahan Khan of Pakistan (32nd), Anders Wahlstedt of Sweden (37th) and Simon Frenz of Germany (38th).

Back to the Canadian Open, French number one Julien Bonetat failed to emulate his performance in last month's Qatar international, where he reached the semifinals, when he went down 15-13, 17-16, 15-3 to English champion Phil Whitlock.

Bonetat missed two game points in the second and when Whitlock edged through 17-16, the Frenchman ran out of steam and inspiration in the third.

Pakistan's Zubair Jahan Khan was unable to find the form that disposed of world number five Nancarrow in the previous round and lost 15-3, 15-13, 15-7 to England's sixth seed Tony Hands.

With Stephen Meads beating Darren Webb 13-15, 15-12, 15-8, 17-16 in an all-English quarter-final, England provide all four semifinalists for the first time in a world tour event.

BRETT MARTIN -- Five-game loss to Danny Meddings.