LIVERPOOL (England), May 7: Gregory Gaultier will be in a rare situation, trying to avoid another record when he begins his defence of the British Open title on Thursday.

The world No 2 from the Aix-en-Provence became the first Frenchman to win the prestigious 80-year-old title when he beat Thierry Lincou, his compatriot and former mentor, in a highly emotional 2007 final.

Now though, with the British Open moving from Manchester to Liverpool and from September to May, Gaultier could become the briefest champion in its 76-year history.

He also has the pressure of defending a well-known title for the first time.

So how will he cope? Possibly better than he would at any other tournament, because Gaultier knows from his junior days what it is like to win and then relinquish a British Open title.

“Winning that was a dream of mine,” Gaultier said, emphasising the powerful significance of good experiences in formative years.

Although Gaultier seemed to be implying that this may help take some of this week’s tension away, he made it evident as well that wasn’t going to take too much notice of the problem.

“I didn’t think about how I will take it,” he said about his title defence.

“Probably with my coach I will talk about it. But I won’t be thinking about defending something. I’m going to try to win something.”

Striking a balance between focus and relaxation can be crucial, as Gaultier discovered when he froze in the World Open final against Amr Shabana in Bermuda in December.

It was the Egyptian who froze when the two met in the 2006 World Open at the Giza pyramids.

They are seeded to meet again in the semi-finals this time but even to get that far Gaultier will have to demonstrate that he has recovered completely from a persistent wrist injury.

The problem caused him to take a fortnight off only for it recur at the Tournament of Champions in New York in February, resulting in a further three-week lay-off.

This is the main reason why Gaultier has been unable to win a title this year. However he also had injury problems in the first half of 2007 and yet still galvanised himself to win the British Open.

There have been fitness problems too for the other two front runners, Ramy Ashour and Shabana. Ashour, the second-seeded Super Series champion from Egypt has semi-permanent discomfort in his foot, despite having won the New York title.

Shabana finished 2007 with exhaustion as well as five successive titles, and this year has played only three events and won only one, the Kuwait Open.

However the left-hander from Cairo is so brilliant that it would be a brave person to bet against a successful title defence.

The form horse is James Willstrop, the Englishman who has won three titles this year and risen to world No 3. He will be seeded fourth and could have a semi-final with Ashour.

However there are at least ten players with realistic chances of winning the British Open, including two former World Open champions – David Palmer of Australia and Lincou.

Palmer is seeded for a quarter-final with Shabana, while Lincou should have a last eight encounter with Ashour.

Aged 32, Lincou has been in good form again this year, winning the Dayton Open and recently climbing back up to world No 5. Lincou starts against a qualifier and if he can engineer an economical run through could be dangerous in the later stages.

Meanwhile, Asian heroine Nicol David will try to keep distracting emotions of atonement and revenge out of her head as she begins her attempt to win back the women’s title.

The world No 1 from Penang needs to concentrate on the practical things she learnt from her sensational defeat to Rachael Grinham in last year’s final, especially as it happened in such an upsetting way.

Despite the focus on David it would be unwise not to regard Rachael Grinham as special too, even though the Egypt-based Queenslander may need to improve on recent form.

The 31-year-old world No 3 has had some unexpected defeats this year. Rachael is also in the same half as her younger sister Natalie Grinham, who has reached two finals in 2008 and has remained world No 2 for 16 out of 17 months.

Seeds:

Men’s: 1. Amr Shabana (Egypt), 2. Ramy Ashour (Egypt), 3. Gregory Gaultier (France), 4. James Willstrop (England), 5. David Palmer (Australia), 6. Thierry Lincou (France), 7. Karim Darwish (Egypt), 8. Peter Barker (England).

Women’s: 1. Nicol David (Malaysia); 2. Natalie Grinham (Australia); 3. Rachael Grinham (Australia); 4. Natalie Grainger (US); 5. Jenny Duncalf (England); 6. Shelley Kitchen (New Zealand); 7. Vicky Botwright (England); 8. Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egypt).—AFP