Matthew, who won his third World Championship crown in four years on home soil in Manchester last November, is bidding to become just the fifth man to win the title four times.

The number three seed raced out of the blocks against Kandra, racking up a two game lead in rapid time, but the tricky youngster fought back in the third game and held his nerve to force the match into a fourth.

However, that was as good as it got for the German number two and world number 58, as Matthew upped his game to wrap up a 11-2, 11-6, 10-12, 11-1 win.

"It's not always a bad thing to have a tough first match," Matthew said.

"Losing that third game sparked me up a bit and really got my mental state from training-mode to match-mode, which sometimes can be a problem in the opening round of a tournament.

"I've put the training in and it's a case of hopefully going deep into the competition and seeing things come together throughout the week."

South Africa's Stephen Coppinger recorded a surprise victory against Britain's Daryl Selby ©Getty Images



Matthew's compatriot and number eight seed Daryl Selby suffered a shock first round exit at the hands of South African Stephen Coppinger, as the physical powerhouse came through an epic 3-2 encounter.

Coppinger allowed Selby to claw back a two-game deficit but managed to hold out in the fifth and deciding game to earn an impressive victory.

"It's a massively satisfying result and I'm really pleased to get that win," said Coppinger.

"It was a brutal encounter mentally and when I got things right I felt great and hopefully I can lock into that mode again in the next round.

"I've been struggling to get big wins like that for a while so I'm really chuffed to get a big win in the World Championship."

Elsewhere, there was an historic moment for Indian squash as duo Saurav Ghosal and Mahesh Mangaonkar emerged victorious in their encounters with Australian Steven Finitsis and New Zealand's Lance Beddoes, respectively, to ensure their country has two representatives in the second round for the first time ever.

Egyptian world number one Mohamed El Shorbagy safely secured his passage into the second round with a 3-0 victory against Malaysia's Muhd Asyraf Azan.

On Friday (November 14), French world number two and number one seed Grégory Gaultier narrowly avoided crashing out having to come from two games down to get past his opponent, Egyptian qualifier Andrew Wagih Shoukry.

Gaultier, who is competing in his 150th PSA World Tour event, looked in lacklustre form during the opening two games as Shoukry, who earned his place in the main draw after his qualifying opponent Shehab Essam Hosny failed to turn up, stormed into an early lead.

France's Grégory Gaultier survived a scare against Egyptian qualifier Andrew Wagih Shoukry ©Getty Images



The world number 72 belied his ranking to stun Gaultier, who has suffered heartbreak in four World Championship finals, but the Frenchman rallied to turn the match on its head and complete a 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 victory.

"I didn't feel good at all," said Gaultier afterwards.

"I felt off and things were not working, but it's better to play like that early and still go through because as long as I win I don't care how I do it.

"I train to win even if I'm not at 100 per cent.

"He had no fear and played well but I didn't really feel in danger.

"At 2-0 down, I just told myself to start over again and pretend it was 0-0 and find my patience.

"You have to deal with these things."

Gaultier's likely semi-final opponent, Egyptian world number five Ramy Ashour, made his highly anticipated return to PSA World Tour action with a convincing 3-0 victory over Malaysian Ivan Yuen.

The two-time world champion from Cairo has missed the better part of the past 12 months following an horrendous run of injuries but his title rivals will have been paying attention as he came through in emphatic fashion, taking the match 11-5, 14-12, 11-5.

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