Essex’s Daryl Selby is predicting a “very tough” all-English first-round tie against Surrey’s Tom Richards in the $150,000 Allam British Open in Hull tomorrow night (Tuesday).
The pair have met 11 times in all competitions in the last 12 years and Selby (pictured above right) holds a 7-4 advantage, but he said: ” We always have very tough matches and I expect Tuesday to be no different, especially as he has been playing very well recently.”
Furthermore, the 32-year-old from Chelmsford has endured a difficult lead-up to the PSA World Series tournament after suffering an injury to his lower back in the final of the European Men’s Team Championship on May 2.
“It was an accident, but Mathieu (Castagnet) kneed me in the coccyx, which did something to my back/pelvis,” Selby recalled.
“I’m still not sure what I’ve done, but the symptoms are similar to when I first had a bulging disc, so I’m hoping it’s not that again.
“I’ve only trained once this week and that was just to test out my back, so the build-up has been far from ideal .”
Until that injury Selby had been delivering some excellent recent results, which has seen him climb back to 14th in the PSA World Rankings.
“My form has been really good since January,” he said. “I have played some good squash and had some really pleasing results.
“Unfortunately I ran into the top guys in form on many occasions (Nick Matthew and Greg Gaultier) and couldn’t get some really big points on my score.
“If I can play how I have been playing this week, then I’ll be happy.”
Report courtesy of EnglandSquashandRacketball.com