Simpson beat Derby's Joe Hinds in the final

Guernsey's Chris Simpson won the British Under-23 Squash Championships held at Hunts County Club on Sunday.

The Sarnian beat 3/4 seed Joel Hinds 5-11 11-2 11-7 11-3 in the final after whitewashing the other 3/4 seed Joe Lee 11-2 11-3 11-4 in their semi-final.

Second seed Simpson told BBC Guernsey: "In the first game I was a bit more nervous than I should have been.

"I had to get my head round that for the second game and luckily I was able to do that."

Hinds, from Derby, was not the opponent Simpson expected to meet in the final.

All of a sudden I was playing someone I'd never lost to and all the pressure was on me really so the situation - pressure-wise - was completely different Chris Simpson

In the other semi-final top seed Tom Richards fell to Hinds in a lengthy five-game match 11-5 14-12 2-11 4-11 11-9.

Simpson had been preparing to face Richards: "I keyed myself up to play him all week, expecting to play him and sorting out tactics.

"So it was an unexpected opponent in the final but still a great final either way."

He admitted that the pressure was different: "Tom is ranked 15 places above me in the world rankings, he was number one seed and I was looking forward to going in there as the underdog... giving it my all and being pressure free.

"All of a sudden I was playing someone I'd never lost to and all the pressure was on me really so the situation - pressure-wise - was completely different and getting my head around that was important."

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