KUWAIT CITY, Nov 30, (AFP): James Willstrop broke the Egyptian monopoly of the trophy and captured the biggest title of his career when he won the $165,000 Kuwait PSA Cup with another performance suggesting he is in the best form of his life. The Englishman’s 11-7, 10-12, 11-4, 11-2 win over Karim Darwish, the former world number one from Egypt, earned him back-to-back World Series titles and made virtually certain that he will equal his career highest ranking of world number two. Willstrop is now the only player to have won more than one World Series title this year apart from Ramy Ashour, the previous winner of the title here, who may be out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.

“It’s not like it’s come out of the blue,” said Willstrop.
“I just feel good. You just have to keep battling away and keep learning as much as you can. I’m keeping a relaxed attitude, and hopefully it will be maintained.”
His success has also been due to the evolution of a rhythmic, less flamboyant attack, applying pressure with fewer risks, and closing out matches economically.
He had not dropped a game in two tournaments, winning 28 in a row, until Darwish sneaked the second in a final which Willstrop otherwise dominated.
An extended roof had been placed over the arena to deal with the forecast threat of possible rain and high winds, but the only storm came from the manner in which Willstrop tore through the last two games.
After a collision sent Darwish tumbling for a third time, Willstrop advanced rapidly to 6-1 in the third game, gaining a psychological hold on the match.

The Egyptian played intelligently and determinedly but found the Englishman’s weight of shot and consistency too much.
After Willstrop fell heavily early in the fourth, he got up and took the next three rallies with brilliantly taken quicker winners, and continued the streak into an unstoppable sequence of ten successive points.
“I am tapping into my strengths a little bit better,” he said rather modestly of his fine run of victories.
“I have been helped by some fantastic people physically and have adapted my squash to suit my physical constitution which has been one of my weaker areas.”
If Willstrop’s run of form is mainained, as he said he hopes, and if world number one Nick Matthew fails to recover from an adductor injury before next month’s World Series in Delhi next month, he could even come close to reaching the pinnacle before 2011 is out.