Derek Ryan's professional squash career received a timely boost in Connecticut when he won his first ranking event in five years by beating Dan Jenson, the world number 10, in four sets in the final of the Hartford Cup.

Just a month ago, the Dubliner dropped to 21 in the world rankings, the first time he has been outside the top 20 in three years, but this victory could see him regain a place in the top 16 when the new ranking list is issued at the weekend.

"It took me three hours to get to sleep last night, just thinking about the match," said Ryan. "But when I woke up this morning I'd forgotten about it. I just stretched out and said, `what'll I do today', lay there for a minute and then remembered, `oh yeah, I won a big tournament last night!'. It was a nice feeling."

Ryan had reached the final without dropping a set, gaining revenge along the way for recent defeats against his second-round and semi-final opponents, Egyptian Ahmed Faizy and Amjad Khan of Pakistan, the highly rated nephew of World champion Jansher Khan. Top seed Jenson, though, was strong favourite to win the final. The 22-year-old Australian's recent run of form won him a place in the world top ten, for the first time in his career, a month ago and he had beaten Ryan when they last met earlier this season. When he took an 11-3 lead in the opening set, the Irish champion's prospects of a second career victory in a ranking event, after winning the Hungarian Open in 1993, looked bleak.

"I'd been getting off to really good starts in all my matches, and going on to win them 3-0, but Jenson went off at 100 miles an hour and before I'd even settled he'd taken an 11-3 lead. It was a terrible start, but gradually I got back into it and he only won the first set 15-12 in the end," said Ryan.

"From then I just played really well - moved well, focused well, didn't make any errors and I felt very relaxed. It was a tough match, the first two sets lasted nearly an hour and the whole thing an hour and 40 minutes, but I felt strong, kept my nerve and won the next three sets (1510, 15-13, 15-11)."

Ryan received a winner's cheque for just over $3,000 - a modest prize, he admits, makes him wish his sporting talent had been in tennis or golf. "Some people thought I'd won $24,000, but that was the total tournament prize money. $24,000? I wish! I would have been out all night if I'd won that. You'd hardly get that kind of money for winning the British Open.

"But I'm really thrilled, I've waited a long time for a win like this and I'd trained really hard for this tournament. I went up to Toronto after the Greenwich Open last week, stayed with Willie Hosey (the former Irish national champion who is now based in Canada) and trained with Jonathan Power and Graham Ryding. Power's probably the best player in the world at the minute, even though he's only ranked three, so training with him was excellent, I felt really sharp."

Ryan returns to his Manchester base today to prepare for his first-round match in the British National Championships tomorrow. Top seed in the tournament is Scotland's Peter Nicol who will end Jansher Khan's 10-year uninterrupted reign as world number one when the rankings are released at the weekend. For now Ryan will settle for a place in the top 16. After that? "Right now, I feel anything's possible. It's been a good week. A very good week."

Hartford Cup (Connecticut) - Final: D Ryan (Ire) bt D Jenson (Aus) 12-15, 15-10, 1513, 15-11.