England Landslide Ensures Home Finalist At The Crucible

England players overwhelmed their opposition in tonight's first round matches in the Mamut English Open, hosted by Sheffield City Council, with home victories in all four matches guaranteeing domestic interest in Sunday's final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Perhaps the most notable of the successes was achieved by local hero Nick Matthew, the Sheffield-based fifth seed who ended the 37-match unbeaten run of Australian comeback king Stewart Boswell.

The pair last met four years ago, when the Yorkshireman was ranked a lowly 41 and Boswell stood at No9 in the world - eight months before reaching a career-high No4. Since then the 27-year-old from Canberra has been fighting his way back to full fitness after a two-year layoff with a mystery back ailment. Over the past four months he has picked up seven successive PSA titles en-route to returning to this major event stage in Sheffield, as a qualifier.

"It was a blessing in disguise, being drawn to play Stewart," said Matthew, after his 9-11 11-8 11-8 11-6 victory in 70 minutes. "I had to be up to speed from the word go - I couldn't afford to make the same mistake I made last year when I put too much pressure on myself to do well in front of a home crowd, and lost to a qualifier in the quarter-finals.

"He's still up there with the best players in the world - he hits the ball so accurately," added the 25-year-old world No9. "I'm certainly delighted to have won."

On the pressure of playing on a major stage in his home town, Matthew explained: "Even though this is the third time I've played here at the Crucible, I didn't really appreciate until this year how special it is. I suddenly realised that there are not many players in the world top twenty who get the chance to play a major event in their home town!"

Matthew, now in the last eight for the third year in a row, will meet his Yorkshire rival and England team-mate Lee Beachill, the defending champion and top seed from Pontefract who took just 34 minutes to defeat unseeded compatriot Bradley Ball, from Ipswich, 11-3 11-7 11-2.

"I've never beaten Lee before, but he knows I'm there, chomping after him," added Matthew, who took the world No2 to five games in their two meetings earlier this year. "He's a world class player, certainly, but anything can happen on the day - and I'm expecting big crowd here tomorrow!"

Earlier, Essex's Peter Barker became the only qualifier to claim a place in the last eight after pulling off a significant first round upset over seventh seed Shahid Zaman. The world No29 from Upminster, who arrived in Sheffield fresh from two PSA Tour title successes in South America, overcame the Pakistan number one 11-8 11-8 4-11 11-7 in 46 minutes.

Barker spent his entire junior squash career in the shadow of James Willstrop, and will meet the 22-year-old Yorkshireman in Friday's quarter-finals.

Fourth seed Willstrop, who beat the 21-year-old left-hander in the finals of the British, European and World Junior Championships, coasted to an 11-6 11-10 11-9 victory over Ben Garner, a wildcard from Surrey, to reach the quarter-finals for the second successive year.

1st round:
[1] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt Bradley Ball (ENG) 11-3, 11-7, 11-2 (34m)
[5] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [Q] Stewart Boswell (AUS) 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 (70m)
[4] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Ben Garner (ENG) 11-6, 11-10 (3-1), 11-9 (34m)
[Q] Peter Barker (ENG) bt [7] Shahid Zaman (PAK) 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7 (46m)