Kuwait Open Begins Countdown To World Series Finals Places

The countdown for places in next year's ATCO PSA World Series Squash Finals begins this week in Kuwait where the $172,500 HH Sheikh Saad Abdullah Al-Sabah Trophy, The Patriarch Amir, Kuwait Open - the eighth of ten 2010 PSA Super Series events - gets underway tomorrow (Thursday).

With title triumphs in the Hong Kong Open and British Grand Prix - and final appearances in all but one of the seven Super Series championships already this year - Egypt's world number one Ramy Ashour heads the Super Series rankings by a massive 125 points.

Only the top eight players, with points accumulated from this year's Super Series events, will qualify for the ATCO PSA World Series Finals at The Queen's Club in London from 11-15 January 2011.

England's Nick Matthew - who chose not to play in last week's El Gouna International Open in Egypt after competing in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where he won two gold medals - is in second place in the latest list after winning titles at the North American Open, the Australian Open, and the Sky Open in Egypt.

As the top two seeds in Kuwait, Ashour and Matthew are expected to meet in next Tuesday's final at Green Island.

Third-placed Englishman James Willstrop, winner of the opening Super Series event of the year at the Tournament of Champions in New York; fourth-placed Egyptian Karim Darwish, the El Gouna champion; and France's fifth-placed Gregory Gaultier, a two-time World Series Finals champion, can feel reasonably comfortable with their positions in the Super Series rankings.

But Tour veterans Thierry Lincou, Amr Shabana and David Palmer will not feel entirely safe in their current positions in the top eight. Frenchman Lincou, looking to make his ninth World Series Finals appearance next year, shares sixth place with Egypt's reigning World Open champion Amr Shabana - while Palmer, the 2002 World Series champion, is only five points ahead of Peter Barker, the ninth-placed Englishman eager to make his World Series Finals debut.

All players - except Palmer, who has withdrawn with an injury sustained in Delhi - will be in action in Kuwait, with the PSA's dedicated webstreaming service Squash TV covering all the action live on www.psasquashtv.com

Kuwait Open 1st round draw:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
[9] Daryl Selby (ENG) v Jonathan Kemp (ENG)
[5] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Abdullah Almezayen (KUW)
[14] Adrian Grant (ENG) v [Q] Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
[3] Amr Shabana (EGY) v Stewart Boswell (AUS)
[16] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [Q] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
[8] Peter Barker (ENG) v [Q] Borja Golan (ESP)
[15] Alister Walker (ENG) v Olli Tuominen (FIN)
[12] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) v Ong Beng Hee (MAS)
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) v Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK)
[10] Wael El Hindi (EGY) v [Q] Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[4] Karim Darwish (EGY) v [Q] Mark Krajcsak (HUN)
[13] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) v [Q] Mohammed Abbas (EGY)
[7] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v [Q] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY)
[11] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) v [Q] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY)
[2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Omar Mosaad (EGY)

Latest 2010 PSA Super Series Rankings