World number two David Palmer has warned Bermuda?s top squash player Nick Kyme that he has no intention of going easy on him in their highly-anticipated Masters clash next week.

The 29-year old Australian, who is also a Bermuda resident, arrived from Melbourne on Wednesday where he was a silver medallist in the men?s individual competition of the Commonwealth Games.

Palmer and wildcard Kyme know each other well having trained together sporadically over the last few years.

But there will be no love lost on the all-glass court on Monday night at 7.30 p.m as Palmer looks to progress through the early rounds of the $120,000 tournament by spending as little time on court as possible.

?I?m really looking forward to it and I will be approaching it like I would any other match,? he said ominously.

?In such a big tournament, the priority has got to be getting through the early rounds quickly and being fresh later on when the matches will get much harder and longer. There?s such a depth of good players here that I can?t afford to take things easy against Nick and have the game run longer than it should.

?But I hope it?s a good game and all the people who come along to watch will enjoy it. Nick is a good player and almost took a game off (world number nine) Johnny White at the Commonwealth Games, so I won?t be able to relax against him at all.?

After totally inadequate preparation for the Games Down Under because of a nasty bout of bronchitis which laid him low for about ten days, Palmer ultimately fought his way through to the final where he lost in four tough games to the irrepressible Peter Nicol of England.

Although he desperately wanted to win in front of a noisy and partisan crowd of 2,500 people, Palmer said he was very happy with having made it so far considering his previous ill-health.

?I was pretty sick for a while and didn?t play at all for about ten days leading up to the Games,? he said.

?I was pretty worried about it and at one stage I was wondering whether I might have to withdraw completely. But I got myself into a position where I could play and after scrapping through the first couple of rounds I started to feel a lot better.

?To get to the final though was really pleasing because I hadn?t anticipated getting that far at all. Even in the final I thought I played well. I controlled the game and had Peter running all over the place, but he was absolutely inspired on the night and was getting everything back.

?As the game wore on, I was under more pressure and I made a couple of errors at really crucial times. But that?s the best Peter has played for a few years and even though I was executing my game plan well and making him work extremely hard, I cannot be too disappointed because I was beaten by the better player on the day.?

First round matches of the Virtual Spectator Bermuda Masters begin on Sunday at noon at both the Jessie Vesey Sports Centre at the Bermuda High School for Girls and at the squash club in Devonshire.

Tickets, which are selling out fast, are available online at www.bermudaboxoffice.bm.