Selby Survives Canary Wharf Classic Thriller

England's fifth seed Daryl Selby survived an epic scare in the first round of the 2014 Canary Wharf Classic, fighting from two games down to overturn former full-time Tour player Jonathan Kemp to reach the quarter-finals of the PSA International 50 squash event.

World No47 Kemp, the lowest-ranked player in the draw, raced into a quick first game lead and then showed his nerve to see out a tense tie-break in the second to put Essex man Selby, ranked 10 in the world, under severe pressure.

But Selby showed his tenacity and determination to fight back and earn the 5-11, 14-16, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 victory in front of a packed house at London's East Wintergarden.

"It was an extremely tough match," said Selby. "Jonathan is extremely relaxed when he's playing now and that makes him a very dangerous opponent.

"I had to dig in and scrap it out a bit but I think it was a good match. I had to be attacking when I had my chances but I'm just happy to get the win.

"Going into the third game I relaxed a bit mentally as I thought I'd probably lost. Against someone like him you expect he'll take one out of three games but I got a good start in the last three games and just keep him at bay.

"Playing here is fantastic," he added. "The crowd are very fair, they give you stick when you deserve it and they applaud when you hit good shots.

"They love their squash here and are very knowledgeable and it's always great to see the seats full because as a player it's a great feeling to see a packed house."

World No5 James Willstrop kept his hopes of collecting a fifth Canary Wharf Classic title alive by seeing off fellow Englishman Adrian Waller 3/0 in their first round match-up.

Willstrop cut a relaxed figure as he proved too much for his younger compatriot, taking just 35 minutes to record the 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 win.

"Adrian and I had a tough 3/0 match at the British Nationals so I was ready for him and very focused today," said Willstrop.

"I was able to snuff his threats well and quickly and I was quite happy with that and retrospectively it's great to get off quickly so you have energy in the tank for hopefully three more days."

Elsewhere Peter Barker looked back to his aggressive best as he dispatched Saurav Ghosal in straight games and German champion Simon Rosner also saw off Egyptian qualifier Mohd Ali Anwar Reda 3/0.

Picture courtesy of SquashPics.com