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