En Bref Issue #2

PACE Reports
Liz Shaughnessy's roundup

[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt Shahier Razik (Can)               11/8, 11/7, 10/11(4-6), 11/6 (63m)
[12] Azlan Iskandar (Mas) bt Matthew Guiffre (Can)       11/3, 11/4, 11/4 (26m)
[6] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [Q] Tarek Momen (Egy)          11/2, 11/4, 11/9 (26m)
[14] Mohammed Abbas (Egy) bt Rafael Alarcon (Bra)      11/3, 11/6, 9/11, 11/7 (47m)

[3] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt Davide Bianchetti (Ita)        11/6, 11/9, 11/3 (41m)
[9] Lee Beachill (Eng) bt [Q] Bernardo Samper (Col)        11/4, 2/0 rtd back injury
[5] Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt [Q] Dylan Bennett (Ned)    11/8, 11/3, 11/5 (31m)
[15] Ong Beng Hee (Mas) bt [Q] Simon Rosner (Ger)       11/8, 11/4, 11/8 (33m)

[10] John White (Sco) bt [Q] Omar Elborolossy (Egy)       11/10(2-0), 11/7, 9/11, 4/11, 11/6
[8] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt [Q] Shawn DeLierre (Can)     11/10(2-0), 11/6, 11/5 (51m)          
[13] Wael El Hindi (Egy) bt [Q] Jean-Michel Arcucci (Fra)  11/3, 11/9, 11/8 (37m)
Hisham Ashour (Egy) bt [4] Nick Matthew (Eng)               9/11, 11/10(2-0), 11/8, 7/5 rtd

[11] Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt  Dan Jenson (Aus)             11/3, 11/5, 11/4 (25m)
[7] James Willstrop (Eng) bt Alex Gough (Wal)                11/7, 11/10(2-0), 11/8 (39m)
[16] Graham Ryding (Can) bt [Q] Julian Illingworth   10/11(0-2), 11/9, 11/3, 9/11, 11/4 (71m)
[2] David Palmer (Aus) bt Liam Kenny (Irl)                     11/8, 11/9, 10/11(2-4), 11/5

[11] Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt  Dan Jenson (Aus)
        11/3, 11/5, 11/4 (25m)

NO CONTEST…
Framboise reports

If Dan Jenson started quite well against compatriot Stewart Boswell, hitting hard and standing way to the front for the first few hard paced rallies, his obvious lack of fitness soon allowed Bozza to distribute the game at will.

To add insult to injury, it was one of those days when Stewart couldn’t do anything wrong, good thinking, very few errors, stunning precision on his length and width.

Dan saw the points stringing away from him, up to 8/0 in the second, he never really panicked, that’s not his style, he kept pushing, but the inevitability of the result was obvious to all…

"On that court, it’s difficult to get in front and volley, because the ball comes off the front wall so quickly…

"It’s always difficult to play against a friend, especially somebody you've trained a lot with…

"I hadn’t seen Dan for a while, he hadn’t played many tournaments recently, and he’s definitely played better matches than this one. He is a couple of matches off, which is fortunate for me…"

"I don't have much to say about this match really, apart from the fact that I haven’t played much squash for the past four weeks, that I didn’t have huge expectations, and that I guess it showed…

"It was a very long way off the pace…"

[7] James Willstrop (Eng) bt
Alex Gough (Wal) 11/7, 11/10(2-0), 11/8 (39m)

PANACHE SQUASH…

I’m sure that when James saw the draw, he thought, yes, yippee, I’m going to play Alex in the first round on a traditional and bouncy court as, if there is one moment where Old Timer Alex Gough is dangerous, it’s on a warm glassback court and in the first round.

And it didn’t miss. Even after a long break, even unfit and probably not that focused on his squash right after a PSA board meeting, the Welsh Devil was as lethal, as brilliant and as with “pananche” as ever…

And I’m not sure what would have happened had Alex taken the second…

James took the first but soon got himself way down, 7/3, in the second. Patiently he came back to 9/9, got his first game ball at 10/9. Alex equalised at 10/10, but James placed a superb backhand mid court boast to get his second game ball at 11/10. The Welshman, still thinking about a discussion he had with the ref on his last rally, didn’t see the winner coming. James was now 2/0…

The third was superb, with long, intense, unpredictable rallies, both players giving their best, and allowing the spectators lots of 'ooooo-s' and 'ahhhh-s'…

And James, maybe losing his concentration a little at the end of the game, let his opponent catch up from 9/5 to 9/8, but was able to painlessly close the match out in 39 minutes…
  

"This morning, I met Alex in the hotel lounge, and he said “where is the club”…

"I knew then that he obviously didn’t have much time to train, that he was probably up to his eyeballs with PSA board meetings, and nearly arrived on court with his suit and all…

"It’s weird playing Alex, you nearly don’t feel that it’s a PSA match, him being the comedian he is, and us having such a great time playing against each other. But he is still very good, he gets some pretty good wins, so you’ve got to be careful.

"He is so unorthodox as well, so I just tried to do enough to beat him…

"Long Christmas… Unfit."

Hisham Ashour (Egy) bt [4] Nick Matthew (Eng)
          9/11, 11/10(2-0), 11/8, 7/5 rtd

WHAT A SHAME…

At the moment I write these lines, Nick has just withdrawn from the tournament…

Towards the end of the fourth game, Nick went over on his ankle, and it immediately looked a bad injury.

Graham Waters, who was refereeing the match, declared that “this is a contributed injury, so Nick has one hour to find out, and because of the medical situation, will be taken to hospital to be checked. If he can play later today, the match could resume tonight. But to be honest with you, it doesn’t look good.”

And he was right. At 18h00, Nick withdrew from the competition.

It’s such a shame for so many reasons. One, because if as the doctor here fears, it is a fracture, Nick will be out of competition for at least a couple of months. And two, because it prevents Hisham from really claiming a very good scalp.

The match was so close, so intense, and at the time of the accident, Hisham was up 2/1, 7/5 and looking pretty good. Nick had taken the first game, helped by a few  untimely errors from his opponent, but only just, 11/9.

In the second, the Egyptian was flying away, mixing hard hitting with close to the tin cross courts and of course, of course, his trickle trademark that allowed him to lead comfortably 9/4. Nick, as he does, didn’t let it go that easily, and clawed back to 9/9, but gave it away on the tin at 10/9.

One game all…

The third was very close indeed, 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 7/7, but the rallies were very quick, and Hisham was dominating most of them. He gave it a last push, and in a matter of seconds, was leading 2/1…

In the fourth, Hisham cruised to 6/2. Once again, Nick came back to 7/5. You know the rest of the story.
 

[15] Ong Beng Hee (Mas) bt [Q] Simon Rosner (Ger) 
       11/8, 11/4, 11/8 (33m)

NEARLY THERE…

It was the first time young Simon Rosner had played the Malaysian Wizard Beng Hee, and although he never lost either his calm or good manners, you could feel the desperation, the “what the heck am I supposed to do to win a point here!” subtitle from the German.

There was a rather funny moment at the end of the second game as Beng Hee was leaving the court, where Simon just stood there, leaning against the wall, pretending he was going to send his racquet to the ball that had gone so far away from him at the other side of the court…

The Malaysian made a few unforced errors, tuning his racquet after a long rest, but he appeared confident, comfortable and relaxed out there. Looks good, Beng Hee does, really looks good…

"He is really good, I think really deserves his place as the top German player…

"There was no pressure on him, it was just lack of experience today, but give him a couple of years, and he’ll be challenging the top guys pretty badly…

"The court was really bouncy, it was not easy to put the ball away. But more than that, it was the first match after Christmas/New Year’s break, so we’re bound to be a bit nervous, and find the tin a few too many times. But might as well get the tins out of the way in the first match and get it over with!"

Ong Beng Hee

"I didn’t play too badly I thought, but I just made too many unforced errors….

"Beng Hee was returning all my shots, even the very good ones, so I had to go deeper, and deeper, and deeper, and I started to make more and more errors…

"But it was a good experience, every game is helping you, or should help you to improve, shouldn’t it?

"And playing Beng Hee is such an awesome experience…"

Simon Rosner

[5] Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt
[Q] Dylan Bennett (Ned) 
     11/8, 11/3, 11/5 (31m)

HOT AND BOUNCY…

… that’s the way Intense Anthony likes it, and boy was he happy today!

If the last event is Saudi was a nightmare for the Australian, this warm and never-ending rallies environment was always going to suit him over the Dutch Dylan Bennett, who has a game a little similar to Anthony, with maybe a few more risks taken at the front, and less fitness, sorry Dylan..

The dutch started so well, leading in a few seconds 6/2. “Dylan is on fire”, I wrote, to complete my sentence a few rallies later “but Anthony is containing the fire and starting to extinguish it nicely”…

From that moment on, it was all Anthony who’ll be “looking forward to his match tomorrow”. Don’t ask, private joke…

"Dylan likes to go for a lot of shots, as soon as he sees an opportunity to go for a winner, he just goes for it, whereas I’m more conservative, and will only go for my shots if I feel comfortable…

"On that court, there’s not a great deal you can expose out of somebody, let’s face it, the ball is always a step away from you, which suits my game perfectly!

"So you’ve got to be patient, and not be afraid to make the rallies last and last…"

"I got a bit tired at the end of the first, I felt good at the beginning, but after that, I got tired. Also I think that he stepped up the pace in the second and the third. I gave him too many easy balls to work with, too many unforced errors, but I’m happy with the first…

"In the recent years, I've been making a lot of unforced errors, but I’ve been working a lot on that, and I’m getting better, but as soon as you get tired, you start making those same mistakes again…

"After Pakistan, I’ve been working very hard on my fitness, it’s getting better, but it’s still not enough, so I’ll go back home and keep on working…"

[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt Shahier Razik (Can)         11/8, 11/7, 10/11(4-6), 11/6 (63m)

Shabana outlasts Razik
Liz Shaughnessy reports

This first round match of the Pace Canadian Squash Classic was a dream for Canadian squash fans as the Canadian number two Shahier Razik met the world number one, Amr Shabana of Egypt.

The two players actually grew up and competed together as children in Cairo. Fifteen years ago Razik’s family moved to Toronto and since then he has played under the maple leaf flag.

While 29 year old Razik has fought to get into the top echelon – he is now world number 26 - Amr Shabana has brought discipline to his naturally scintillating shots to create a world beating deadly combination. The 27 year old has twice won the world title and has been world number one for most of 2006.

Despite the disparity in rankings, Shabana did not have it all his own way and Razik gave as good as he got, pushing Shabana in the first game which Shabana won 11-8. Game two was a similar story, with both players marshalling their best efforts for game three.

Shabana was up 10-9 and ready to close out the match, but Razik had other ideas, forcing an error out of Shabana to tie the game at 10-10, sending it into a 'tie-break'. The excitement built as the two players doggedly swapped point for point with Shabana unable to get the vital two point lead for victory. In fact the game went for another ten rallies before Razik’s determination was rewarded with a penalty stroke to win 16-14 and give hope for a Canadian victory.

During the fourth game Shabana upped the pace, ran to a 7-2 lead with the help of some lucky nicks.

He stifled a come-back run by Razik at 9-6 and went on to take the eight minute game 11-6 and win the 63 minute match 3/1.

"Shahier loves the court, it suits him, he is so fast, and he grew up playing on this type of court…

"Physically, I’m fine, it’s just hard for me to end the points on that court, you’ve got to win it 4 or 5 times…

"At the end of the third, he played well, and I made a few unforced errors…

"We go back such a long time, he is like a brother to me, the first time we played I was 10 and he was 11, so it’s hard to get on there and think “I’m going to break you ..."

"I just got into the match too late, I should have snatched the first or the second, because although I took the third, he was still relaxed because he was up 2/1, he still felt comfortable.

"You’ve got to keep Shabana on the edge, because when he is on, he’s on, and he slams it in the nick…

"We know each other so well, we are so polite to each other on the court, every other rally it’s 'I’m sorry Shabana, I’m sorry, Shahier', it’s quite funny really… We go back such a long way…

I’m always fine here in Toronto, I’m home, so win or lose, I’m fine…

[12] Azlan Iskandar (Mas)
bt Matthew Guiffre (Can)  11/3, 11/4, 11/4 (26m)

Another Canadian fell as Matthew Guiffre simply did not have the experience to handle the former Malaysian champion and world number 18 Azlan Iskander.

"That was quick!

"I worked quite hard over Christmas, I didn’t take a break, as I had a quite disappointing Asian Games, and the bad result in Saudi was a consequence of that.

"After that, I was quite down, I’m still trying to find my maturity within myself as a squash player.

"So I’ve worked hard with Peter Genever on the physical side, I feel very strong, but I don’t use it to my advantage enough, most of the time I’m just returning the ball. Last year I’ve lost so many matches without feeling tired, whereas now, win or lose, I’ll make sure I’ve given everything I’ve got.

"It’s more in my head than anything else I think…"

"I was a bit slow, I haven’t played that that pace and level for a month now, mostly because of the Christmas break…

"My head was not into it, I was too distracted, too much happening outside of squash…

"But at least I had a good start, and I’m next off to Vancouver, I’ll be able to build on that as I’m now getting used to that pace again…"

Day Three at the B&R
Jamie Nicholls reports

[14] Mohammed Abbas (Egy) bt Rafael Alarcon (Bra)
       11/3, 11/6, 9/11, 11/7 (47m)

Abbas Advances

Our first match at the B&R was the tall and lanky Egyptian Mohammed Abbas versus the small Brazilian Rafael Alarcon.

Abbas opened the match very strong, as he used his long reach to cut everything off and whenever Alarcon left something short, Abbas was able to hold the ball seemingly forever and send the Brazilian off into the wrong direction.

With all the twisting and turning, Alarcon seemed to be spending all his time merely staying in the rallies, let alone winning them. However, Rafael stayed tough, took advantage of a few early errors from Abbas in the third game, and found himself for the first time with a lead, up 8-5.

Abbas sharpened his game at that point, but it was too late, as Alarcon had his foot in the door and began to attack with more confidence, taking the third 11-9. The fourth game saw Abbas looking the more tired player, and Alarcon continued to press hard.

At 5-5, a very long rally ended with the Brazilian hitting a tin, which proved pivotal, as Abbas used the momentum to step up and once again dominate the T, holding and flicking his way to an 11-7 game four win to take the match 3-1.

[2] David Palmer (Aus) bt Liam Kenny (Irl)
       11/8, 11/9, 10/11(2-4), 11/5

Palmer outguns Kenny

Next up was #2 David Palmer and the Irishman Liam Kenny. Palmer had been hanging out and practicing at the club all weekend, so it was great to finally see him in action.

He looked extremely sharp in the first two games, but so was Liam Kenny. For both games, Palmer seemed just one step ahead of Kenny, as he inched his way to an 11-8, 11-9 2 game up lead. Palmer’s movement was exceptional, as for such a big guy, he looked extremely smooth, especially moving into the front left corner, where his counter drops were deadly.

All credit to Liam Kenny, though, as although it seemed like Palmer was dominating, Kenny went about his game in a workmanlike fashion, retrieving well, attacking when he had the occasion and keeping his balls extremely tight. He managed to stick with Palmer in the 3rd, and, after coaxing a few errors out of the World #2 to get to extra points, hit two beautiful forehand straight drops from the mid-court to take the 3rd 14-12. Palmer, who seemed just as surprised as the crowd, turned it up a notch in the fourth.

His presence on the T was dominating, and once he initiated his attack, there was little Kenny could do to avoid the barrage of offense. Kenny continued to fight hard, but was simply outgunned by a very sharp David Palmer 11-5 in the best match of the night at the B&R.

[6] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [Q] Tarek Momen (Egy)           11/2, 11/4, 11/9 (26m)

Ramy takes Egyptian tussle

The crowd reached its pinnacle as Jonathon Power introduced the next match featuring Egyptian qualifier Tarek Momen and possible heir to the squash throne, Ramy Ashour.

Ramy had also been at the club all weekend, and his infectious smile had already won over much of the crowd, including all of the juniors in attendance. They were not disappointed as Ashour came out in the first and second games on fire – he attacked from all over the court and hit the ball with so much power, even when the ball was seemingly by him. He would bring the speedy Momen up to the front of the court, and when Momen tried to hit deep, Ashour seemed to know exactly where the ball would be and drilled it into the back corners, often too quickly for the crowd to see it.

The third game saw the Momen settle down and show some flair of his own – this young star hit a few cross court volley drops that left Ashour stunned, as well as some great counter drops. The two put on an exhibition-style third game, before Ramy ended it with an entertaining 3-0 victory.

[3] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt Davide Bianchetti (Ita)
         11/6, 11/9, 11/3 (41m)

Greg eases through

Last match of the night was World #3 from France Greg Gaultier and World #28 Davide Bianchetti from Italy. The crowd stayed put, as Jonathon Power provided in house commentary.

Gaultier looked solid throughout, as he worked the ball up and down the backhand side, bringing Bianchetti up and back, rarely letting a ball go to the back wall. Bianchetti was able to keep his balls tight, but didn’t seem to muster enough pace to consistently move Gaultier off the T, where he was able to flick the ball into the back corners, while mixing in straight drops.

When Bianchetti did try to hit with pace, he too frequently sprayed the ball, resulting in either strokes or an easy winner for Gaultier. The referee was involved in many discussions, and this also made it difficult for the Italian to get any rhythm in the match.

The second game featured some excellent exchanges where Bianchetti played a string of great points, but overall Gaultier was too strong today, taking a 41 minute 3-0 victory.
 

"I lost my head in the third game. I was thinking of other things, of the holidays, of watching a friend play later.

"By the time I got back into the match, Rafael was playing much better.

"The fourth game could have gone either way, I was quite lucky today, there were 3 or 4 tins in that game that Rafael was so close on. If it had gone to the fifth, I think he would have taken it.

"I am very happy to have gone through, it’s always hard to play right after the holidays, so I’m glad to get the victory."

Jamie, Ramy & Palmer with
Keri (Event Engine)




Ramy Ashour


Keri & Tarek Momen
 

Gregory Gaultier

B&R Photos by Ajay and Amar Gupta

[9] Lee Beachill (Eng) bt
[Q] Bernardo Samper (Col)   
      11/4, 2/0 rtd back injury

[10] John White (Sco) bt
[Q] Omar Elborolossy (Egy)
11/10(2-0), 11/7, 9/11, 4/11, 11/6

"I played well and didn’t make a lot of mistakes, but he hit too many winners at the end.

"I’m happy with my performance overall.

"Every tournament, I’m a bit better…