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PSA PLAYER BIOGRAPHY Name: Thierry Lincou Country: France Date of Birth: 2 April 1976 Height: 1.81m Place of Birth: Reunion Island Place of Residence: Paris/Marseilles Current World Ranking (Mar 06): 4 Highest World Ranking (Jan 04): 1 National Ranking: 1 PSA Titles: 14 PSA Final Appearances: 27 |
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After a sensational run in 2003, when he reached the semi-finals in nine successive PSA Tour events and went on to contest five finals, Thierry Lincou became world number one for the first time in January 2004 - confirming his status as the most successful French squash player of all-time.
It was his appearance in the 2003 World Open final in December in Pakistan - where he was the fourth seed - that clinched his position as No1 in the first Dunlop PSA World Rankings of the New Year. When the 29-year-old from Marseille first burst into the world top ten in April 2000, he overtook his illustrious predecessor Julien Bonetat as the highest-ranked Frenchman of all time. He is now the country's first ever world No1.
Lincou joined the PSA in 1994 after reaching the semi-finals of the World Junior Championships in New Zealand in August. He claimed his first PSA Tour title, the International Tirolean Championships in Austria, in October 96.
In 2000, Thierry led France to their first appearance in the men's final of the European Team Championships, where they lost out to defending champions England. For the next four years, Lincou steered France to the finals, all against England, but each time came away as runners-up.
The French breakthrough came in October 2003, when the Lincou-led squad achieved a historic first-ever win over England in the semi-finals of the World Team Championships in Austria to reach the finals for the first time.
Despite keeping his first world No1 ranking for only the first two months of 2004, Lincou went on to capture four major titles: the Super Series Finals in London, the Hong Kong Open (upsetting second seed Lee Beachill to reach the final where he beat another Englishman Nick Matthew), and the Canadian Classic in Toronto (beating home hero Jonathon Power in the final).
Seeded to reach the World Open final in Qatar in December, Lincou did just that - but went one better by beating top seed Lee Beachill to become world champion for the first time.
This success led to Lincou returning to the top of the PSA rankings in January 2005 - a position he held throughout the year.
After winning his eighth French National title at the beginning of the year, Thierry returned to PSA matters by reaching the final in February's Tournament of Championships in New York - marking the 25th of his career. He went on the make the Super Series Finals final for the second successive year, but lost out to Jonathon Power. He scored his first PSA title success of the year in Karachi where he won the Pakistan Open trophy for the first time, beating Australia's David Palmer in the final.
Disappointment followed in the later British Open and World Open, where in both cases he fell at the quarter-final stage to Peter Nicol, the Englishman whom he has described as his 'role model'.
A semi-final place in the Saudi International event in December and a place in the last eight of the Windy City Open in Chicago in January saw Thierry settle at fifth place in the February world rankings. |
THIERRY LINCOU TOURNAMENT SUCCESSES:
Feb 06 Winner Canary Wharf Classic USA |
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