It was the second upset of the day at the National Squash Centre in Manchester, as third seed Laura Massaro had earlier defeated the Yorkshire favourite Jenny Duncalf, the world number two.

Matthew, who completed 2010 as World Open and Commonwealth champion, dominated the opening game, but was pegged back by the world number ten as he dropped his first game of the tournament.

Matthew won the next game, but again Selby responded in kind.

Both players had leads in the decider, but an uncharacteristic series of errors by the defending champion saw Selby pull away from 6-7 down to win 7-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 - with Matthew calling his final ball down and shaking Selby's hand.

"I feel I played really well - but I had to play really well against the world number one," said the 28-year-old from Witham.  

"I knew I had a chance.  I feel I raised my game to his level.

"In fact I feel I played a phenomenal match. 

"I'm ten in the world, and results like this show that I can go higher.

"Hopefully this can be a catalyst to move on.

"Is it the best win of my career? "I should say so, when you look at the names on this trophy - Nick Matthew, James Willstrop, Peter Nicol, Jonah Barrington...it's an amazing list of names. "And there's Del Harris, the last Essex man to win the title [in 1989].

"I feel I deserved to win - I matched him physically and turned the pressure back on him."

A downcast Matthew acknowledged that his opponent had been the better player:  

"He didn't give me anything - it was almost error-free squash.

"I had my chances - but when he came back he took his chances better than I did.

"He played better than me.

"I wanted so much to win that fourth title."



Massaro had arrived in Manchester fresh from international success in the United States, where she upset three higher-ranked players - including the 14-month-unbeaten world world number Nicol David - to win the biggest Tour title of her career.

Seeded three in the British championship, Massaro reached the final after battling to victory over second-seeded Irish opponent Madeline Perry. 

But after taking the opening game in the final, the world number one slipped behind as England team-mate Duncalf began to dominate.

Massaro, however, picked up her game to draw level, before completely dominating the decider to come through 11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-2 after 62 minutes.

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