Matthew Marches On As Coppinger Stuns Selby

Reigning champion Nick Matthew got the defence of his world title off to a successful start, getting past tricky German opponent Raphael Kandra 3/1 in his opening match of the 2014 Qatar PSA World Championship in Doha.

Matthew, who won his third World Championship crown in four years on home soil in Manchester last November, is bidding to become just the fifth man to win the title four times. The Yorkshireman raced out of the blocks against Kandra, racking up a two game lead in rapid time.

Matthew produced some vintage squash as he visibly overwhelmed Kandra, but the youngster regained his composure in the third game to fight back against the number three seed and held his nerve to take the game 12-10 and force the match into a fourth.

However, that was as good as it got for the German No2 and world No58 as Matthew upped his game to storm home taking the match 11-2, 11-6, 10-12, 11-1.

"It's not always a bad thing to have a tough first match", said Matthew. "Losing that third game sparked me up a bit and really got my mental state from training-mode to match-mode, which sometimes can be a problem in the opening round of a tournament.

"I've put the training in and it's a case of hopefully going deep into the competition and seeing things come together throughout the week.

I've got a day off tomorrow to keep working on things and I'm just enjoying being here and I'm looking forward to the next match."

While Matthew progressed, his compatriot and number eight seed Daryl Selby suffered a shock first round exit at the hands of South African Stephen Coppinger, as the physical powerhouse from Cape Town came through an epic 3/2 encounter.

Coppinger watched Selby claw back a two-game deficit but managed to hold out in the fifth and deciding game to earn an impressive victory.

"It's a massively satisfying result and I'm really pleased to get that win," said Coppinger, who has twice previously lost to Selby in the event over the past six years.

"It was a brutal encounter mentally and when I got things right today I felt great and hopefully I can lock into that mode again in the next round.

"I've been struggling to get big wins like that for a while so I'm really chuffed to get a big win today in the World Championship."

Elsewhere there was an historic moment for Indian squash as duo Saurav Ghosal and Mahesh Mangaonkar emerged victorious in their encounters with Australian Steven Finitsis and New Zealand's Lance Beddoes, respectively, to ensure their country has two representatives in the second round for the first time.

Meanwhile, Egypt is also celebrating a notable success - with ten players involved in second round action for the first time in the history of the championship.