Matthew holds off Willstrop in duo’s latest ‘brutal’ battle

After 81 minutes of mesmerising play between the world’s top two players, it was world No 1 Matthew, from Sheffield, who prevailed, seeing off Willstrop 11-8 11-3 6-11 14-12.

The 31-year-old, who also defeated his fellow Yorkshireman in last month’s Tournament of Champions, controlled the early stages in front of a packed National Squash Centre in Manchester and, after dominating the second game, things looked bleak for the world No 2 from Leeds.

But Willstrop staged a remarkable recovery, working his way back to control and then take the third game and then continue his form deep into the fourth when he had two game points.

Matthew, however, had different ideas and came back to level at 10-10 and then got himself in front again to the point where Willstrop had to perform remarkably well to save two match points.

But a third was one too many for Willstrop – who last month briefly snatched Matthew’s No 1 ranking away from him – and he could not prevent Matthew extending his winning streak over him to 19 matches, stretching back to December 2007.

No ranking points were up for grabs in Manchester, but there was no lack of intensity on either player’s part, both of them displaying staggering powers of recovery when points seemed lost.

Both will have to wait until next week and the North American Open in Richmond, Virginia, to try to gain a further advantage over the other in the world rankings.

Matthew was understandably delighted to land a fourth national title, but was quick to pay tribute to his opponent, who had contributed to another classic final between the two.

“People talk about James’s racquet skills and they’re right to, but he’s also the most determined player I’ve played,” said Matthew.

“His will to win is staggering and at times, particularly in that last game, some of the points were just brutal. Everyone talks about the rivalry, but I think there’s also a great deal of respect between us.

“There’s definitely more twists and turns to come between us I think. I would love to stay as world No 1 but if we end up taking the top ranking in turns then that would be fantastic for the game as a whole.”

Willstrop admitted he struggled to contain Matthew in the opening exchanges, but was always confident he would find a way back into the match.

“It was running away a bit and those kind of matches are hard to turn around,“ said Willstrop. “He was very accurate and hats off to him because he was putting the ball into good areas. But I knew I wasn’t doing anything massively wrong and I just had to dog in there and have confidence in myself that I could turn it around.”

In the women’s final, Laura Massaro defended her title when she beat Alison Waters 11-2 11-9 8-11 11-4.