Matthew, who celebrates his 29th birthday this week is enjoying a fine run on the international circuit where he stands at a career-high world number five ranking – yet reached the final after surviving a 90-minute marathon against third seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar, in which he saved a match ball against the Malaysian!
By contrast, second seed Willstrop has slipped to 12 in the rankings - from a best-ever world number two – and was making his international comeback after undergoing ankle surgery in April. But, the 25-year-old from Leeds barely broke sweat in his semi-final clash when long-time Tour rival Stewart Boswell, from Australia, retired with a back injury after just 10 minutes into the first game.
"I felt bad for Stewart," said Willstrop after the match. "We seem to be bad luck charms for each other as we always seem to get injured playing each other. I did my ankle playing him, and he did his rib playing me two or three years back!"
But it was nip and tuck in the first game of the final, before Matthew pulled ahead from 9-8 to take a 1/0 lead. The Sheffield man built up a 6-0 lead in the second before Willstrop got off the mark and pulled back the deficit to 7-4, before Matthew extended his lead to 2/0.
Willstrop took the early lead in the third, but it was short-lived as Matthew bounded back to maintain the lead through the game before recording his title triumph in 42 minutes – and the World Games gold medal for the first time.
Malaysian Mohd Azlan Iskandar claimed the men's bronze medal after gaining a walkover from the injured Boswell.
Bronze Medal play-off:
[3] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [5] Stewart Boswell (AUS) w/o
Semi-finals:
[1] Nick Matthew (GBR) bt [3] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 7-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, 13-11
[2] James Willstrop (GBR) bt [5] Stewart Boswell (AUS) 5-7 ret.
Quarter-finals:
[1] Nick Matthew (GBR) bt [8] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-4, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6
[3] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [6] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-7, 11-8, 11-5
[5] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [13] Julien Balbo (FRA) 11-9, 11-6, 11-4
[2] James Willstrop (GBR) bt [7] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 11-6, 12-10, 4-11, 12-10
2nd round:
[1] Nick Matthew (GBR) bt [15] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-4, 11-2, 11-4
[8] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [9] Renan Lavigne (FRA) 11-7, 11-3, 11-5
[6] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [12] Mark Krajcsak (HUN) 11-3, 14-12, 11-6
[3] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [11] Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 11-4
[13] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt [4] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 12-10, 11-7, 12-10
[5] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [10] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) 11-4, 11-3, 11-5
[7] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [16] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 11-9, 11-6, 15-13
[2] James Willstrop (GBR) bt [14] Simon Rosner (GER) 8-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3
1st round:
[1] Nick Matthew (GBR) bt Joe Chapman (IVB) 11-3, 11-2, 11-1
[15] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt Scott Arnold (AUS) 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9
[9] Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt Max Lee (HKG) 11-5, 13-11, 7-11, 5-11, 11-8
[8] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bye
[6] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Italo Bonatti (GUA) 11-6, 11-3, 11-7
[12] Mark Krajcsak (HUN) bt Dick Lau (HKG) 11-7, 11-7, 11-7
[11] Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) bt Christopher Gordon (USA) 12-10, 11-4, 11-7
[3] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Alexei Severinov (RUS) 11-1, 11-1, 11-5
[4] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt Yuta Fukui (JPN) 7-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-2
[13] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) 11-2, 23-21, 11-6
[10] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bye
[5] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt Nyeon-Ho Lee (KOR) 11-5, 11-3, 11-8
[7] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Robin Clarke (CAN) 13-11, 4-11, 11-3, 11-1
[16] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt Jens Schoor (GER) 11-5, 11-7, 11-3
[14] Simon Rosner (GER) bye
[2] James Willstrop (GBR) bt Cheng Yao Huang (TPE) 11-4, 11-5, 11-7
Issued by iSPORTmedia