Brit Ouseph ready to crack world's top 20

RAJIV Ouseph could crack the world's top 20 following his victory in badminton's US Open final.

PROGRESS: Rajiv Ouseph's US Open win edges him closer to his world top ten ambition

The three-time English champion and British number one took just 30 minutes to beat France's Brice Leverdez 21-17, 21-9.

Ouseph, the former European junior champion, who won European bronze earlier this year, said: "This was an important win for me, especially after the poor display in Canada last week when I lost in the second round.

"I was feeling some pressure during this tournament but, after the first difficult round I felt more relaxed and confident.

"I am happy to have won a lot of hard matches against tough players this week. It's definitely the biggest win of my career and now I am ready to take on new challenges.

"I am looking forward to the World Championships in Paris in four weeks."

Ouseph's victory comes just two weeks after former world number two, Denmark's Kenneth Jonassen, arrived at Badminto England as new men's singles coach.

"I am not really concerned about ranking points. Only the win is important to me as a coach. I am mostly concerned with how Raj handled the pressure and the level of his game," said Jonassen.

"He played a good mix of skill and physical play and made Brice look for winners. That produced easy mistakes as a result of the pressure Raj put him under.

"Raj did even better in the second game, with more variation, dedication and total tactical dominance. Raj was the stronger player on court."