RESULTS: Punj Lloyd PSA Masters Squash Championship, Mumbai, India
1st round (lower half of draw):
[16] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9 (96m)
[7] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-3, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5 (39m)
[9] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt Chris Ryder (ENG) 6-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9 (54m)
[4] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Renan Lavigne (FRA) 11-9, 11-5, 11-7
[10] Alister Walker (ENG) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) 11-4, 11-5, 11-3
[8] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Julian Illingworth (USA) 11-4, 11-6, 11-4 (32m)
[13] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 11-5, 11-3, 11-4 (47m)
Daryl Selby (ENG) bt [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 12-10, 1-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6 (83m)
England's Daryl Selby secured the best win of his career when he upset event favourite Gregory Gaultier in five games to move into the last 16 of the Punj Lloyd PSA Masters, the $152,500 PSA World Tour Super Series squash event at the Bombay Gymkhana in Mumbai.
While the 27-year-old from Essex is enjoying a sensational run of form towards the end of the year, Gaultier seems to be experiencing the opposite effect since becoming world number one for the first time in November.
The Frenchman failed to progress beyond the second round of last month's Qatar Classic - thereby dropping back to No2 in the December rankings - while unexpected title success in November's Dutch Open saw Selby soar to a career-high world No11 this month.
After recovering from the loss of the first game in Mumbai, Gaultier moved ahead to lead 2/1 - but the tenacious English underdog battled back to regain control before raising his arms in delight after 83 minutes in celebration of his shock 12-10, 1-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6 victory.
"This is my best win ever, for sure," Selby told www.squashsite.co.uk afterward. "Greg is such an amazing player, when he gets confident, he gets in a roll, and we could see in the second how good he can be, and he showed there why he was number one last month.
"You’ve got to be pretty gutsy to play on that court against Greg. I’m sure he’ll say he was not 100%, but that’s in his head. I’m sure too that he’ll agree that’s the weakest point of his game, as the squash is close to perfection really. I just tried and get in his head tonight.
"What made the difference tonight? The mental side of things, no doubt about that," concluded the victorious Englishman.
Selby will now go on to face 13th seed Laurens Jan Anjema, the Netherlands number one who was forced to retire against Selby in the Dutch Open semi-finals. With no sign of the troubled right knee, Anjema despatched Italian number one Davide Bianchetti 11-5, 11-3, 11-4.
Daryl Selby was one of five Englishmen to earn second round slots at the Bombay Gymkhana - and two of the four will be certain of reaching the following round! England number one Nick Matthew, the fourth seed, beat Frenchman Renan Lavigne 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 and will face England team-mate Adrian Grant, the No9 seed who needed 54 minutes to overcome compatriot Chris Ryder 6-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9.
The other all-English second round line-up will feature 10th seed Alister Walker and Londoner Peter Barker, the eighth seed. Walker defeated local hero Ritwik Bhattacharya, the former world No38 from Mumbai and one of the tournament organisers, 11-4, 11-5, 11-3, while Barker dismissed US number one Julian Illingworth 11-4, 11-6, 11-4.
2nd round line-up:
[2] Amr Shabana (EGY) v Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) v [12] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
[3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [14] Stewart Boswell (AUS)
[5] David Palmer (AUS) v Omar Mosaad (EGY)
[7] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v [16] Ong Beng Hee (MAS)
[4] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [9] Adrian Grant (ENG)
[8] Peter Barker (ENG) v [10] Alister Walker (ENG)
Daryl Selby (ENG) v [13] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED)