Friday, October 17 - Quarter-final
Opponent: Ramy Ashour
Result: Lost 2-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 (58m)

WHILE it's obviously disappointing to go out in the quarter-finals of the World Open in your own backyard, I know I came off that court having given absolutely everything.

I feel it was a really high quality game with both players going for their shots and, to be honest, it could have gone either way. Ramy came out of the blocks a little nervously and I played some of the best squash of my career in the first game.

It felt at the time that I was playing in a very good match and throughout it seemed to be one of fine margins in each of the four games.

I honestly don't think I could have done much more – in terms of my preparation and winning the match. I came off with head held high.

After being out for so long I feel that I'm back to where I want to be in terms of playing and now the World Open has gone, my targets have changed. The highest I've ever been in the world is No 5 and I want to try and better that before the end of the season and if I continue to play the way I have all week in Manchester I think I stand a really good chance.

I did put everything into this tournament, but I didn't want to build it up into something too much – what I mean is that, at the end of the day, it was still a squash match. You have to find the right balance between being really up for it, while not becoming too tense as a result.

After the injury, I now feel as fit as I've ever been. I certainly didn't come off thinking I'd lost to Ramy because I've been out of it for eight months or so because I felt in great shape.

Luckily, on the PSA Tour the turnaround is always pretty quick and there's always another tournament around the corner. This time next week I'll be heading out to Qatar and the top guys are the ones who always bounce back from setbacks and that's what I've got to do. If I can win a tournament or two before the end of 2008 then I'll be very satisfied.

In terms of who will win the men's title in Manchester, it's a tough one. Although David Palmer is always a threat and should beat Karim Darwish in their semi, my gut feeling it that the winner will come from the top half of the draw, meaning it will probably be Ramy (Ashour) or Amr (Shabana).


Thursday, October 16

Sitting here back home in Sheffield, I feel a long way detached from tomorrow's World Open quarter-final . . . but that's the way i planned it!

It feels great to be able to escape from it all - little things like sleeping in my own bed, eating my own food and watching one of my favourite movies - itwill hopefully make a difference when it comes to performing at my best come Friday.

When playing at home, why not try to use it to your advantage?!

I will head back to Manchester later on today feeling refreshed and ready to start phase two of the World Open against Egypt's Ramy Ashour.

The way the draw panned out for me has meant two very distinct phases to the event. Having successfully managed to negotiate matches on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I have then had a day off today (Thursday). Should I continue to win and (hopefully) reach the final, I will play each day until Sunday. It's almost like two separate tournaments of three days each.

The first one was hard enough, but i realise the second one is going to be something entirely different altogether!

My dad said to me last week that nobody has ever won the World Open without finding something deep inside themselves at certain times during a match, so i'm ready to plunge those depths!

Having watched Ramy yesterday I will certainly have to play well, but smart, and fight hard for every single point and where that takes me, who knows.

I was certainly very impressed with his performance against my mate Peter Barker - he looked like he was back to his best.

To say I'm looking forward to it would be an understatement. I'm
refreshed and ready to go.

Wednesday, Third round
Opponent: Laurens Jan Anjema (NED)
Result: Won 11-7, 11-6, 11-13, 11-4 (60m)

Tuesday, 2nd round
Opponent: Stewart Boswell
Result: Won 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 (46m)

Monday, 1st round
Opponent: Shahid Zaman
Result: Won 11-9 11-7 11-5

It was nice to get my first round match out of the way
today. I was down at the National Squash Centre at around 9am just hitting some balls and getting some practice in.

It was quite strange being there at that time as there was hardly a soul around and it was a stark contrast after I came off court having beaten Shahid.

I was quite excited before going on court, I just wanted to get going. The first match in any tournament is often the same - you just want to get it under your belt. I think after being out injured for so long, making it to this tournament kept me going through some dark times during my rehabilitation.

I've played Shahid on a number of occasions, as I have Stewart Boswell my opponent in the second round.

We sometimes have training matches together because he's often in Manchester so we know each other's games quite well - there should be no surprises.

Stewart is a really good player and although he's not seeded at this tournament he's ranked about 17 in the world so is probably one of the most dangerous unseeded players you could hope to face.

I know I'll have to be on top of my game to make it through to the next round.

It really is going to be a hectic week. It was already very busy once the first round proper of the men's draw got underway and it will only get more hectic.

It's important to try and get away from it all as much as possible and try to chill out. I'm sharing a hotel room with Peter Barker - who also won his first round match - and we're just trying to relax as much as possible once our matches are over, although sometimes it can be difficult.

A few of us were heading to Wagamamma's tonight for a bite to eat - we squash players are creatures of habit so you'll probably find us in there every night until Sunday !