Willstrop looks to protect top billing

SQUASH: Yorkshire’s James Willstrop enters one of his favourite tournaments of the squash calendar tonight knowing there is no room for error if he wishes to hang on to his recently-gained world No 1 ranking.

By The Newsroom

Published 20th Jan 2012, 17:47 BST

The 28-year-old, from Leeds, replaced fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew at the top of the PSA World Tour rankings at the start of this month, but his Sheffield rival returns from injury for the Tournament of Champions event in New York to try and regain the position he held throughout 2011.

Matthew, 31, faces a tricky opening against former world No 8, Wael El Hindi, from Egypt, while Willstrop gets his campaign underway tonight against one of the qualifiers who played late last night for a place in the main draw.

Willstrop won the event in 2010, while Matthew has been runner-up three times, including last year’s defeat to Ramy Ashour.

The gap in ranking points between the two Yorkshire rivals is so slight that whoever wins the event – or reaches further – is expected to enter February as world No 1.