Injuries sustained in this week's Saudi PSA World Open in Saudi Arabia have taken their toll on the draw for next week's Punj Lloyd PSA Masters, the tenth and final PSA Super Series squash event of the year which will take place in India from 14-19 December.
Egypt's Ramy Ashour, plus Saudi quarter-final casualties Karim Darwish and Gregory Gaultier, have all today tendered their withdrawals from the $192,500 championship at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in Delhi following medical advice. All three have suffered hamstring injuries.
Ashour, the world number one, was seeded to retain the title he won for the first time last year in the prestigious PSA event's first staging in India, in Mumbai.
"We are all very disappointed, of course, that the Punj Lloyd PSA Masters has lost three of its top seeds in the past few hours," said PSA Tour Executive Sheila Cooksley. "It just shows how tough this game of ours is and, as with all sports, injuries come at the most unlikely times and it is devastating for the three of them.
"The PSA World Tour has a tough calendar with five major events in the last three months of the year.
"But despite losing these three players, we have no doubt that the event will still be a top drawer tournament because now there is such a tremendous depth of talent on the PSA Tour," added Cooksley.
England's Adrian Grant, the 15th seed, has also been forced to withdraw from the event as a result of a torn abductor.
The revised seeding now suggest an all-English final between Nick Matthew and James Willstrop - the same line-up which brought to a climax the 2010 Commonwealth Games squash competition at the same Delhi venue in October, when world number two Matthew clinched the first of two gold medals at the Games.
The Matthew/Willstrop line-up would also be a repeat of the 2010 World Open final in Saudi Arabia
Revised 1st round Punj Lloyd PSA Masters draw:
[2] James Willstrop (ENG) v Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY)
[13] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND)
[7] Wael El Hindi (EGY) v Qualifier
[11] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v Jonathan Kemp (ENG)
[4] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v Qualifier
[15] Olli Tuominen (FIN) v Qualifier
[8] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) v Qualifier
[16] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) v Qualifier
[14] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[6] David Palmer (AUS) v Mohammed Abbas (EGY)
[9] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) v Qualifier
[3] Amr Shabana (EGY) v Qualifier
[10] Daryl Selby (ENG) v Joey Barrington (ENG)
[5] Peter Barker (ENG) v Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY)
[12] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) v Tom Richards (ENG)
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Qualifier