LONDON, March 18 Greg Gaultier looked to have transformed himself into the world`s best player as he became the first man for eight years to successfully defend the title at the Super Series finals, the PSA tour`s season-end event.

The fourth-seeded Frenchman was flying from day one of the four-day tournament, and finished it with another high-level performance in beating Thierry Lincou, the former world number one, 11-5, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5 in the first Super Series final between players from the same country.

Final places

1. Greg Gaultier (FRA), 2. Thierry Lincou (FRA); 3. Karim Darwish (EGY), 4. Amr Shabana (Egypt), 5. James Willstrop (ENG), 6. David Palmer (AUS), 7. Wael El Hindi (Egypt), 8. Ramy Ashour (EGY) —AFP