21-Nov-07:
Yorkshireman Willstrop favourite to win Mamut English Open crown in
Sheffield
James
Willstrop,
the England No1 and world No5 from Yorkshire, is named as top seed for
next month's
Mamut
English Open
in Sheffield
- and is expected to face England team-mate and
Sheffield-based Nick Matthew
in the final of the 5-star PSA Tour
event less than a week after the pair hope to lead England to
a successful title defence in the World Team Championship
in India.
"I
can't think of a better way of rounding off the year than winning the
Mamut English Open in my home county after helping England to win the
world title for the second time in a row."
The
2007
Mamut English Open - the
final PSA Tour event of the year, which is hosted by
Sheffield City Council - will take place the
English
Institute of Sport
in Sheffield from
Saturday 15 December to Tuesday 18 December.
The star-studded line-up also features a further member of England's
world team championship squad -
Peter Barker, the world No13 from Essex who is the fourth
seed, behind third seed John White,
the hard-hitting Scot who won the inaugural English Open at Sheffield's
famous Crucible Theatre in 2003.
After reaching the final two years ago, Matthew would like nothing more
than to go one better and win this major Tour title in his home city of
Sheffield in December.
Since becoming the first player to hold both the British National and
British Open titles at the same time last year - as well as becoming the
first true Englishman to win the British Open crown for 67 years - the
27-year-old has continued to extend his portfolio of international
squash titles by winning the US Open
trophy this year.
In the draw announced by event promoters
Eventis Sports Marketing Ltd -
the company led by the sport's four-times
Commonwealth Games gold
medallist Peter Nicol -
Matthew will face a qualifier, while Willstrop opens his campaign
against Italian number one Davide
Bianchetti.
First round draw:
[1] James Willstrop (Eng) v Davide Bianchetti (Ita)
[7] Renan Lavigne (Fra) v Qualifier
[4] Peter Barker (Eng) v Daryl Selby (Eng)
[5] Alex Gough (Wal) v Qualifier
[6] Shahier Razik (Can) v Chris Simpson (Eng)
[3] John White (Sco) v Qualifier
[8] Bradley Ball (Eng) v Jonathan Kemp (Eng)
[2] Nick Matthew (Eng) v Qualifier
Full draw, with timings
