By LEE HORTON
WILL James Willstrop walk away from the World Squash Championships if his heavily pregnant partner Vanessa Atkinson goes into labour?
That was the intriguing question on everyone’s lips in Manchester last night after the number 3 seed revealed: “I’m not sure exactly how we will react when the baby comes, if it’s in the middle of the night, what should I do? We’ll play it by ear really. Squash is not that important.”
James has been returning home to Harrogate after his matches in Manchester and he admitted it was a huge decision to even enter the AJ Bell-sponsored event.
“It’s a decision I made with Vanessa, that I would play,” he added. “She is not on her own which makes it easier. I try and stay focused on the tournament for the 3 hours of the match, and the rest of the day, it’s all about Vanessa. I guess it puts everything in perspective, and in the big scales of thing.”
He admitted in his biography last year that he didn’t feel ready for parenthood, but he is now clearly relishing the prospect.
The England No 2 took only 39 minutes to beat compatriot Tom Richards 11-8, 11-3, 11-6, with the latter looking short of tournament matches following an injury lay-off.
And on Wednesday, James moved into the last eight after defeating Spain’s Borja Golan.
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Round TWO:
[11] Omar Mosaad (Egy) 3-0 Ong Beng Hee (Mas)  11-5 , 11-4, 13-11 (44m)
[4] Nick Matthew (Eng) 3-0 Max Lee (Hkg) 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 (41m)
[8] Amr Shabana (Egy) 3-1 Mathieu Castagnet (Fra)  11-8, 11-7, 12-14 , 11-6 (55m)
[16] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Col) 3-0 Leo Au (Hkg) 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 (38m)
Saurav Ghosal (Ind) 3-1 [15] Alister Walker (Bot)  11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7 (55m)
Henrik Mustonen (Fin) 3-2 [7] Peter Barker (Eng)  2-11, 4-11, 11-6 rtd (36m)
[1] Ramy Ashour (Egy) 3-0 [Q] Fares Dessouki (Egy)  11-6, 11-6, 11-4 (23m)
[14] Cameron Pilley (Aus) 3-1 Nafiizwan Adnan (Mas)  11-9, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6 (80m)
[3] James Willstrop (Eng) 3-0 Tom Richards (Eng)  11-8, 11-3, 11-6 (39m)
[9] Borja Golan (Esp) 3-0 Cesar Salazar (Mex)  11-4, 11-6, 11-3 (30m)
[12] Simon Rosner (Ger) 3-0 Abdullah Al Mezayen (Kuw)  15-13, 11-7, 11-5 (59m)
[6] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-0 Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy)  11-4, 11-5, 11-6 (29m)
[5] Karim Darwish (Egy) 3-0 Olli Tuominen (Fin)  11-7, 11-5, 11-3 (33m)
[13] Daryl Selby (Eng) 3-1 Stephen Coppinger (Rsa)  11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-3 (75m)
[10] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 5-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 (43m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-0 [Q] Matthew Karwalski (Aus)  11-9, 11-3, 11-5 (32m)