Willstrop celebrates return to world No 1 with title

In the process, the 28-year-old from Leeds denied Egyptian opponent Ramy Ashour a dream return to the world PSA Tour after three months out injured, taking 52 minutes to triumph 11-7, 11-8, 11-7.

After reaching the last four on Thursday night, the top seed had already ensured he would regain his world No 1 status from fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew, extending the fascinating see-saw battle between the two at the top of the world rankings.

Matthew fell to Ashour’s skills in Friday night’s semi-finals, going down 12-10, 13-11, 11-3 and, with France’s world No 3 Gregory Gaultier also reaching the last four, the coming months promise to be a fascinating battle between all four players.

Willstrop briefly held the world No 1 ranking through January, three tournament titles at the end of 2011 seeing him replace Matthew, who had filled the spot throughout the year.

But victory over Willstrop in the Tournament of Champions final in New York last month saw Matthew – himself returning from a two-month injury lay-off – return to the top of the pile.

It was the speed with which Willstrop’s newly-found world No 1 status was taken away that made him determined to regain the position as soon as possible, something which fed a series of impressive performances in Richmond, Virginia, this past week, culminating in Saturday night’s display which saw him prove too strong and confident for Ashour.

“It was a wonderful feeling over Christmas knowing that I was going to be No 1 for the first time and I was very disappointed to lose it the next month,” said Willstrop.

“It made me determined to win it back, and I was pleased to play well enough to get back there at the beginning of next month.”

Ashour who had produced an impressive performance against Matthew the previous evening, struggled to have the same impact against Willstrop, who used his height intelligently throughout to make life increasingly difficult for his opponent.

Willstrop was also enjoying added confidence following his gruelling 97-minute victory over Gaultier the previous evening.

“That gave me confidence coming into the match,” he added. “I knew what to expect with a player of Ramy’s abilities and I had to find a way to stop him hitting winners. I am pleased with my whole week, not just today.”