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15-Nov-10:
Matthew Seeded To Win First
World Open Title In Saudi
Despite competition from three former champions and the reigning
four-time champion, England's Nick Matthew is seeded to
become the world squash champion for the first time in next
month's Saudi PSA World Open Championship at Sunset
Beach Resort in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Khobar.
It will be the 32nd staging of the premier annual PSA World Tour
event which was first held in 1976 - but its first time in Saudi
Arabia. The championship, featuring 64 players from 23
countries, boasts a $327,500 prize fund - making it the richest
of all-time.
Matthew, the 30-year-old world number two from Sheffield, is
hoping to become the first Englishman to win the sport's coveted
title. No stranger to breakthrough successes in the sport,
Matthew became the first true Englishman for 67 years to win the
British Open trophy in 2006 - and earlier this year became the
country's first world number one for six years.
The Yorkshireman has enjoyed the best year of his career so far:
He followed PSA Super Series title triumphs in the North
American Open, the Sky Open in Egypt and the
Australian Open in Canberra by winning two gold medals in
last month's Commonwealth Games in India.
Matthew begins his 2010 World Open campaign against Australian
qualifier Ryan Cuskelly, and is expected to face France's
2004 champion Thierry Lincou in the quarter-finals,
before a likely semi-final clash with Amr Shabana.
It was last year, in the event's maiden appearance in Kuwait,
that distinguished Egyptian Shabana clinched his fourth title in
seven years - becoming only the fourth player in history, after
Australia's Geoff Hunt and Pakistanis Jahangir Khan
and Jansher Khan, to win four World Open crowns.
Matthew is expected to renew his rivalry with another Egyptian,
2008 champion Ramy Ashour, in the final. The 23-year-old
from Cairo wrested back the world number one ranking from the
Englishman in September - and went on to build up an
unassailable lead at the top of the 2010 PSA Super Series
Rankings after winning his third Super Series title of the year
at last week's Kuwait Open.
Ashour begins his Saudi campaign against top-ranked German
Simon Rosner - and is expected to line up against compatriot
Karim Darwish, the fourth seed and runner-up in 2008, in
the semis.
Darwish will arrive in Saudi fresh from title triumphs in two
Super Series events this year - including the most recent, the
Qatar Classic in Doha where he beat fellow countryman Shabana in
the final to win the established title for the second time in
three years.
Australia's David Palmer is a dark horse lurking in the
middle of the draw. The 34-year-old tenth seed is a two times
winner of the title - in 2002 and 2006 - and one of three
players celebrating an 11th successive appearance in the
championship. Palmer opens against Italian qualifier Stephane
Galifi before a likely last 16 clash with fifth-seeded
Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, runner-up in 2006 and 2007.
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