James Willstrop crowned a sensational junior squash career in
2002 when he claimed his third consecutive British Junior U19 National
Championship title to establish himself as Englands most successful junior
player of all time - having won National titles at all age groups U12, U14,
U17 and U19, and British Junior Open trophies at U14, U17 and U19. In the
same year, he established himself as the world's top junior, claiming both
the European and the World titles.
After representing England
with distinction at all junior levels, captaining the England U19 junior
team to victory in the 2002 European Junior Team Championships, James has
gone on to be one of the youngest players ever to play for the senior
England team, representing his country at both European and World Team
Championships in 2003.
It was sandwiched between
his national and European junior triumphs in 2002 that the tall Yorkshireman
claimed his first PSA Tour title, winning the Swiss Open in Geneva. He went
on to reach the final of the Odense Open in Denmark as qualifier then in
December picked up the Santa Barbara Open trophy in the USA.
He enjoyed a
hugely-successful 2003, creating upsets in most tournaments in which he
played finishing the year by securing the Dutch Open title in November
after overcoming local hero Tommy Berden in the final in Maastricht.
However, Willstrop made
enormous strides in 2004, beginning the year at 18 in the rankings and
twelve months later finding himself at five! A qualifier in the Kuwait Open
in January, he brushed aside significant experienced opposition such as Omar
Elborolossy, Ong Beng Hee, John White and Jonathon Power to reach the final
where he finally found his match in top seed Peter Nicol.
His next significant scalp
was Egypt's world champion Amr Shabana in the Swedish Open then the former
world champion David Palmer in February's Tournament of Champions.
As the rest of the year
progressed, so his reputation improved and the upsets continued: Earlier
losses to John White in the Tournament of Champions and Bermuda Open were
converted into a win over the Scot in August's quarter-finals of the English
Open.
After reaching the
quarter-finals of the World Open in Qatar in December, he went on to the
Pakistan Open in Islamabad. Seeded eight, Willstrop played the tournament
of his life as he despatched Alex Gough, Olli Tuominen, third seed Amr
Shabana and second seed Nick Matthew before beating Anthony Ricketts 6-11
11-9 11-10 11-3 in the final to collect his maiden Super Series title.
Remarkably, Willstrop
leapt from 13 to 5 in the January 2005 rankings and began the New Year as
one of the most feared opponents. He notched up another win over Ricketts
to reach the Windy City Open quarter-finals in Chicago and later made his
first appearance in the British National Championship's final, only to lose
to his close friend and Pontefract training partner Lee Beachill. |
JAMES WILLSTROP
TOURNAMENT SUCCESSES:
Feb 05 2nd round *Tournament of Champions USA
Jan 05 Quarter-finals Windy City Open USA
Dec 04 Winner *Pakistan Open PAK
Dec 04 Quarter-finals *World Open QAT
Nov 04 1st round Canadian Classic CAN
Nov 04 2nd round British Open ENG
Sep 04 1st round US Open USA
Sep 04 2nd round *Hong Kong Open HKG
Aug 04 Semi-finals English Open ENG
Apr 04 2nd round *PSA Masters QAT
Mar 04 1st round Bermuda Open BER
Feb 04 Quarter-finalist Tournament of Champions USA
Feb 04 Semi-finalist Swedish Open SWE
Jan 04 Runner-up Kuwait Open KUW
Nov 03 Winner Dutch Open NED
Oct 03 Quarter-finalist British Open ENG
Jun 03 Quarter-finalist Spanish Open ESP
Oct 02 Winner Santa Barbara Open USA
Aug 02 Semi-finalist Colombian Open COL
Aug 02 Semi-finalist Brazil Open BRA
Apr 02 Runner-up Odense Open DEN
Mar 02 Winner #European Junior Championships FRA
Mar 02 Winner Swiss Open SUI
Mar 02 Winner #British U19 Nationals ENG
Jan 02 Winner #British Junior Open (U19) ENG
Sep 01 Quarter-finalist Spanish Open ESP
Apr 01 Runner-up #European Junior Championship BEL
Mar 01 Winner #British U19 Nationals ENG
Jan 01 Runner-up #British Junior Open (U19) ENG
Jul 00 Semi-finalist #World Junior Open ITA
Apr 00 Runner-up #European Junior Championship GER
Mar 00 Winner #British U19 Nationals ENG
Dec 99 Winner #British Junior Open (U17) ENG
Feb 99 Winner #British U16 Nationals ENG
Jan 99 Runner-up #British Junior Open (U17) ENG
Feb 98 Winner #British U16 Nationals ENG
Nov 97 Winner #British U16 Nationals ENG
Jan 97 Winner #British Junior Open (U14) ENG
Oct 96 Winner #British U14 Nationals ENG
Oct 94 Winner #British U12 Nationals ENG |