Michelle Martin

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See Marc Dutroux for his ex-wife, whose name is also Michelle Martin.

Michelle Martin (born April 29, 1967) is a former professional squash player from Australia who was one of the game's leading players in the 1990s. During her career, she won three World Open titles and six British Open titles.

[edit] Life and career

Martin comes from a famous family of squash players. Her older brothers Brett Martin and Rodney Martin (who attended Everton Park State High School) were also both top-class players. Rodney won the men's World Open in 1991, and Brett achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 2 on the men's circuit.

Michelle Martin won her first competitive tournament in 1990, and quickly rose up the rankings until she faced the No. 1 player, the legendary New Zealander Susan Devoy, in the 1992 World Open final, which she lost 9-4, 9-6, 9-4.

When Devoy retired, Martin became the World No. 1-ranked player, and went on to dominate the sport in the mid-1990s. She won the 1993 World Open, comfortably beating Liz Irving in the final 9-2, 9-2, 9-1. This was followed by victories against England's Cassie Campion in the 1994 final (9-1, 9-0, 9-6), and fellow-Australian Sarah Fitz-Gerald in the 1995 final (8-10, 9-2, 9-6, 9-3).

The emergence of Sarah Fitz-Gerald led to several epic battles between the two Australian players in the late-1990s. In two successive gruelling World Open finals in 1997 and 1998, Martin lost to Fitz-Gerald 9-5, 5-9, 6-9, 9-2, 9-3 and 10-8, 9-7, 2-9, 3-9, 10-9. In 1999, Martin she was the runner-up again, losing to Cassie Campion 9-6, 9-7, 9-7. From 1992 to 1999, Martin had appeared in seven of the eight World Open finals.

Martin won six consecutive British Open titles from 1993-1998.

In the 1998 Commonwealth Games, Martin won two gold medals, in the singles and the doubles. She was Australia's Sportswoman of the Year in 1993.

In 1999, Martin retired from the sport, claiming she had achieved every goal she had set herself.