20-Aug-12:
Willstrop and Matthew lead
home charge at British Grand Prix
England’s World No.1
James Willstrop and World Champion Nick Matthew will
lead the home charge at next month's British Grand Prix to be
staged at the National Squash Centre in Manchester from 21st to
24th September, but in a field containing 13 of the world’s top
20 neither will have an easy task to even reach the final.
 Top
seed Willstrop will face 2010 British National Champion Daryl
Selby in arguably the toughest first round match of the PSA
International 70 event, with the winner likely to face
Laurens Jan Anjema, the Dutch No.1 and World No.9 who faces
Wildcard Jens Schoor of Germany in his opening match.
Matthew, currently ranked World No.2, will begin his 2012
British Grand Prix campaign against compatriot and World No.16
Tom Richards and will be keen to make up for the
disappointment of losing in last year’s final.
 Matthew
finds himself in a tough bottom half of the draw which also
includes former World No.1 Karim Darwish of Egypt,
compatriots Peter Barker and Adrian Grant, ranked
World No.6 & World No.17 respectively, and Alister Walker,
the World No.13 from Botswana.
In Willstrop’s half are four time World Champion Amr Shabana
and another former World No.1 Gregory Gaultier. Both are
guaranteed to mount a determined and tough-minded challenge for
a title neither has previously won, but should they win their
first round matches against qualifiers would meet in a
mouth-watering quarter-final.
Matthew and Willstrop, now firmly established as the world’s top
ranked players and one of the sport’s all-time great rivalries,
produced another close and brilliantly entertaining encounter on
the same spectacular ASB all-glass show court in February when
Matthew claimed a stunning 81-minute marathon four-game victory
over his perpetual rival to win a record-equalling fourth
British National title.
Although Matthew boasts a 33-10 career head-to-head advantage
over his great rival, and a winning streak of 20 consecutive
matches over the past four years, their matches are always
keenly contested.
Willstrop, three years Matthew’s junior, hit the best form of
his career in the closing months of 2011 which allowed him to
claim victory in three successive World Series events in Kuwait,
Hong Kong, and Delhi, events which Matthew was forced to miss
out on through injury.
Those wins took Willstrop to the World Number One spot in
January, but Matthew regained the position in February following
his win over Willstrop in the final of the Tournament of
Champions in New York.
Willstrop took the position back in the February rankings and
has held it ever since, despite Matthew winning his third
British Open title and second PSA World Series title of the year
in May. |
Schedule & Tickets
First Round
Draw
[1] James Willstrop (Eng)
Daryl Selby (Eng)
Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned)
Jens Schoor (Ger)
Amr Shabana (Egy)
Qualifier
Qualifier
[3] Gregory Gaultier (Fra)
Peter Barker (Eng)
[4] Karim Darwish (Egy)
Adrian Grant (Eng)
Qualifier
Alister Walker (Bot)
Qualifier
Tom Richards (Eng)
[2] Nick Matthew (Eng)
Full draw with timings
Schedule & Tickets
 |
