Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet has improved steadily since he first joined the PSA World Tour in 2005.
He first tasted success on the PSA World Tour with a win at the PSA Super Satellite De Sannois in September 2009 after defeating fellow Frenchman Gregoire Marche in the final.
Aix-en-Provence-based Castagnet reached the quarter-finals of the US Open in 2013 but lost out to compatriot Gregory Gaultier in straight games.
Castagnet’s form kept improving and he made it to the quarter-final of the British Open in May 2014, but fell to an impressive Mohamed ElShorbagy despite earning a game off the Egyptian. His good form meant he broke into the World’s top twenty for the first time.
He won his first PSA M35 event at the Montreal Open in October 2014 and followed that up by breaking into the top 15 in the world the month after. He shocked Elshorbagy in a surprising quarter-final victory at the British Grand Prix in December 2014 and made it to the final before being dispatched by Nick Matthew.
Castagnet was named as the PSA Player of the Month in January 2015 and lost out again to Matthew in the quarter-final of the 2015 British Open.
Four months later, the Frenchman moved into the world's top 10 for the first time in his career.
Castagnet went viral on the internet in February 2016 after his stunning retrieval against England’s Daryl Selby - in which he followed up a dive at the front before sprinting the full length of the court to play a winner from the back - in their Windy City Open clash.
March 2016 saw Castagnet defeat Omar Mosaad to win his third Tour crown at the Canary Wharf Classic - lifting his first PSA M70 title in the process - while he also qualified for the season-ending PSA Dubai World Series Finals, where he bowed out in the group stage.
However, he dropped back outside of the world’s top 10 in November of that year.
Castagnet had a handful of quarter-final finishes in 2017, including at the UCS Swedish Open, Canary Wharf Classic and the British Open, where he came unstuck against eventual winner Gregory Gaultier.