SOME of the country's best squash players went head-to-head in the annual Cleethorpes Invitation Professional Tournament.

Now in its 13th year, previous winners include notables such as John White, David Evans, Mark and Nick Taylor – the first winner in 1998.

This year, current champion James Willstrop was bidding for his sixth Cleethorpes title.

The organisers were rewarded with a powerful entry, which also included Daryl Selby, Adrian Grant and Stewart Boswell.

None of the fancied players were troubled in reaching the semi-finals, so the line-up was Willstrop v Boswell and Grant v Selby – all four heading off to the Commonwealth Games later this year.

Grant and Selby were first on, both looking as if matchplay would do them good.

Grant, having slightly the better of things, won a protracted first game 12-10 and, starting well in the second, threatened a 2-0 lead.

But Selby, aided by some judiciously played angles, got back on level terms.

The match continued to be competitive, but Selby, capitalising on forehand errors from Grant, led 2-1 and eventually won the match, as Grant's resistance lessened.

A feature of the match, refereed by John Massarella, was that there was only one stroke awarded, despite more than frequent lets, asked for in the most part by Grant.

He paid for an apparent reluctance to play the ball, quite rightly, although he was disgruntled when Massarella refused him a let when he chose not to play one of Selby's serves, and it was the world number nine who took his place in the final for the second year running.

The Willstrop-Boswell match was a step-up from the first semi-final.

Boswell had played the recent Malaysian Open and was match fit.

Boswell blitzed away to lead 9-1, playing impressively.

Willstrop fought back against Boswell's onslaught, but lost the first set 11-5.

The match continued at a surprisingly high level and Willstrop won the second 11-8 and then won the next to lead 2-1.

Despite continued stern resistance from Boswell, Willstrop won the fourth, too, a little more comfortably, to join Selby in the final.

With the final on the same day, what happened in the earlier semi-finals was of importance.

The Selby-Grant match played first was longer but probably less testing, since the quality of the Willstrop-Boswell match was higher and the pace more exacting.

However, it did not seem to have created any imbalance in terms of what it took out of the players.

Willstrop began the final in style, dashing away to a 9-2 lead, the pace seemingly too much for Selby, and he won it 11-2 with some ease.

Selby, however, is resilient and determined under pressure.

Although Willstrop led 5-2 and 8-5 in the second, Selby showed his quality to force a tie-break.

He did not have a game-ball, however, and on his fifth, Willstrop clinched it.

He needed an injury break to attend to a neck problem and it seemed unlikely that he could recover from 2-0 down, with Willstrop continuing to dominate.

Willstrop quickly asserted himself in the third and won it 11-2, as he had the first.

Those who helped organise the high-quality event included Mike and Kim Hallam, Brian and Julie Barrett and Rick Havercroft.

The event sponsors were: Fosse Water Treatment, Technical Absorbents, Wilton Cobley, Broadburns Chemist, Cleethorpes Bowling, Total UK, Bring Logistics, Harsco Infrastructure and Harrow Sports.