10 Aug 07 - James Willstrop In Sensational First Victory With Prince
Within days of signing his three-year worldwide agreement with Prince, James Willstrop recorded a sensational victory in his first Tour match using the O3 Black racquet - beating for the first time in his career the world No4 Gregory Gaultier.
It was last night's opening match in the ATCO Super Series Squash Finals, the flagship annual PSA Tour event at the National Squash Centre in Manchester, England.
Willstrop, the 23-year-old world No7 from England, and Gaultier, the 24-year-old world No4 from France, had met countless times on the world junior circuit - with the Frenchman coming out on top on all occasions.
But in what - remarkably - was the pair's first encounter on the PSA Tour, it was former world junior champion Willstrop that prevailed, winning 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4 in 51 minutes.
"I really enjoy coming here, it's great to play in front of an English crowd, especially a Northern one," said the new Prince star later.
Willstrop is a regular at the NSC - the England squad's training base - and won his first British National title on the same court earlier in the year.
"I've always been on the wrong end of things with Greg. I've had a few thoughts about it and taken a bit of stick over it, so it's good to get a win over someone you struggle with.
"Overall I felt really good out there, and I love the new racquet. It's a good start but I'll be taking it one game at a time," added the jubilant victor.
Willstrop will be in confident form approaching the next two group matches against England team-mate Nick Matthew and Egypt's world number one Amr Shabana - hoping that victories here will take him through to Sunday's final.
Willstrop joins a distinguished cast of top sportsmen and women who have enjoyed immediate success on switching to Prince's revolutionary O3 technology: Russian tennis player Nikolay Davydenko was ranked 20 in the world in May 2005 before moving to the O3 Tour - since when he has leapt to a career-high number three!
Since 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova switched to the O3 White - with which she won the US Open title in dazzling style last year - the racquet has become the single best-selling O3 model. Ranked 48 before switching to the O3 Red, Jelena Jankovic has won three WTA titles with the pioneering racquet - and is now No3 in the world!
France's Marion Bartoli achieved the most recent stunning breakthrough - reaching the first Grand Slam final of her career at Wimbledon after switching to O3 Red.
Similar successes have also been achieved in squash: England's world number one Peter Nicol won two successive titles following his switch to O3 - and went on to claim two gold medals in the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Nicol David clinched her first British Open title within a week of the switch, and went on build up a 50-match unbeaten run which included two World Open titles. Since moving to the O3 Tour, the 23-year-old Malaysian has competed in 18 WISPA World Tour events - reaching the finals on all but one occasion!
About Prince Sports
Prince Sports, Inc., based in New Jersey, is a recognised leader in game-improvement technologies and engineering-based high-performance sports equipment. Since 1970, Prince and Ektelon have revolutionised tennis, squash and racquetball with innovations including “Oversize,” “Longbody” and “Extender” racquet technologies, Natural Foot Shape footwear technology, Synthetic Gut String and Electronic Ball Machines. Prince gives players speed, stability and a larger sweet spot with O3 racquet technology, building the brand with O3 Original Series (2005), O3 Hybrid (2006), O3 Speedport and Ozone (2007). In 2006, Prince introduced M Series footwear with Precision Tube Technology, an innovation that gives players maximum cushioning, stability and ventilation. Prince Sports has operations on three continents and distribution in over 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.princetennis.com
Howard Harding
Tel: +44 1737-243333
Email: Howard@hhpr.co.uk