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[1] Amr Shabana (Egy)
v [8] John White (Sco)
11/3, 11/6, 11/7 (30m)
[5] Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt [6] Ramy Ashour (Egy)
12/10, 11/3, 8/11, 11/8 (61m)
It's Shabana & Ricketts ...
Champion here in 2005, John White has since moved to the USA and
enjoyed substantial support as he took on the world number one, but
Amr Shabana didn't leave much chance for the Scot. Still, a
splendid performance from the Tall Man who delighted the US crowd with his
second to none style...
World junior champion Ramy Ashour has risen like a rocket in the
past few months with a run of results that includes three wins over
Anthony Ricketts - US Open, Pakistan Open and last week in Toronto.
But today, the Australian was too intense, too fast, just too good for an
Egyptian whose mad past months just caught up with him...
Framboise reports from Chicago, photos from David Barry ...
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En Bref
#8
Walid & Wael,
Diary of an MC, more football, Ramy's special preparation ...
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[1]
Amr Shabana (Egy)
v [8] John White (Sco)
11/3, 11/6, 11/7 (30m)
WHITEY IN EXHIBITION MODE…
 It
was to be expected I guess. It's all very well to beat young guns in
75 minutes in the quarters of a Super Series, but when you’ve got to
come out and do it all over again the next day against the world
number one Amr Shabana, it’s a whole different story….
The first game went very fast, John was not that all there yet,
seven minutes and the Prince of Egypt was 11/3 up. And the end
result became obvious when the Australian started grunting as soon
he started stretching to retrieve Shabana’s horrendous attacks as
soon as the second game started.
Realising he was not going to win this one, John switched, how only
he knows how, into an exhibition mode that delighted the crowd, as
in loud shots and sublime retrieving, but made Shabana slightly
wary. Kind of “don’t mind having a laugh with you mate, but I know
that if I give you that bit, you’ll take the whole lot with you”!
And the Egyptian was right to be on his guard. Down 2/0 and 6/3
down, Whitey went into “retrieving everything under the sun” mode,
as he did the day before against Greg Gaultier.
It worked yesterday, why not today?
It didn’t, despite the loud and noisy support from the numerous
crowd admiring the comeback effort. At 8/7, Shabana started piling
the winners up, leaving John on the floor… But boy, did John win a
few new admirers tonight showing so much panache and flamboyancy…
Shabana will luuuuuuve a 30 minute semi final before meeting the Man
of the Moment, Anthony Ricketts. On a warm court, an attacker like
Amr against a fantastic retriever as Anthony, fireworks and magic
all over I can predict…
 "Le
lob drop shot game didn’t work today…
"When I woke up this morning, I didn’t feel too bad after my match
against Greg, had a massage, but it’s only when you get on court and
you try to react, that you stop and start, and you are twisting and
turning, that you start feeling the pain. And the pain became really
sharp when he started chopping the ball all over the court…
"I wanted to attack from the start, but I felt a bit off the pace,
he was attacking so well, and I found myself retrieving more and
more … I was very lucky to get a few points in today…
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 "I
was a bit worried tonight, because two years ago I was playing here
in the final of Chicago, and John was supposed to be stiff from his
previous matches, and I lost 3/0 like in 15 minutes…
"So, although I didn’t mind him making jokes and having a bit of fun
on the court, deep down, I knew I had to stay concentrated and
focused, because you give John 2/3 points, he gets a few winners and
he gets right back in the match…
"My game plan for tomorrow? As ever, keep the ball tight to the wall
and wait for the space to attack!"
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[5]
Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt [6] Ramy Ashour (Egy)
12/10, 11/3, 8/11, 11/8 (61m)
PUPPY RAMY TIRED,
ANTHONY FULL BLAST…
From the minute Ramy stepped on court to warm up the ball, he seemed
lethargic, and had even forgotten to tie his shoe laces… Anthony on
the contrary, looked so focused and intense, and the contrast was
rather striking.
And it became weirder. After his first tin at the start of the
match, Ramy started a diatribe in Arabic that went on, and on. I
mean, I’ve seen Ramy play a lot recently, and I cannot remember him
actually talking to himself more than once or twice per match, and
normally one or two words… He was not really himself today, that’s
for sure.
But then again, how could he be? Anthony never gave him a chance.
The Australian was powerful at the back, lethal at the front, was
moving so early on the ball that Ramy got awarded a few
uncharacteristic strokes against him, was getting, retrieving and
counterattacking everything, putting so much pressure on his
opponent and forcing him to make the mistake.
I counted 17 unforced errors for Ramy, and that’s what Anthony does
to you. I saw it so many times, Greg in Toronto, David in Chicago,
and so many others.
His physical presence is such that the other player just runs out of
ideas, and tries for too much…
Ramy should have never lost the first game. He was up 10/7 but hit
three tins in a row from 10/8… The second game was closer than the
scoreline looks, as it lasted as long as the first one, 13 minutes…
Big battle, but one that Ramy lost yet again.
Down 2/0, he seemed to find his fire and game at last. Anthony
started to suffer, had to retrieve more than he could control and
attack. The Egyptian’s errors rate dropped to one. Good stuff. We
thought we were on for a five setter.
But again, Anthony, blasting with all guns, took an excellent start
in the fourth game and led 5/0. Ramy got more and more frustrated by
his incapacity to have any control over the rallies, the tin count
climbed up, turned into panic stations and soon Anthony had match
ball 10/3.
Like he did against Shabana in Hong Kong, down 10/2, Ramy,
liberated, started to claw back. Anthony, nervous, wouldn’t be the
first time he would lose a match with that big a lead (remember
Peter Nicol in Kuwait 2005), started tinning the ball at will…
The crowd went wild. 3/10. 4/10. 5/10/ 6/10/ 7/10. 8/10. Just two
more points, and the tie-breaker. Then everything was possible. But
a short attack too soon for Puppy Ramy that clips the tin…. Match to
Anthony.
The Boy took it standing up. He came back to talk to the crowd,
answered Simon Parke’s questions with a nice sorry and sad smile. As
Anthony stated, “He showed he knows how to lose”.
At the moment, Anthony is hungry. Today, Ramy was playing for a game
of squash. Intense Anthony was playing for his life ...
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 "It
was a fantastic game of squash. I’ve lost the last three times I’ve
played him, and he has been a fantastic winner. Today, he has proven
that he knows how to lose too, and I have a lot of respect for him,
he knows how to take it…
"For the past two years, I’ve been focusing on my short game,
because before I was really concentrating on the physical aspect,
but I realised I had to add some attacking shots to my game….
"With Ramy, you’ve got to stick with it with every point. Last week
in Toronto, I had the lead, but I let it slip away, like I did with
Peter Nicol in Kuwait two years ago…
"Today, as the match went on, although I was very focused, I felt
relaxed, my shoulders were down, and you’ve go those days where I
feel I can take shots nicely, and some days you don’t. Today was one
of those days I felt I could…"
 "I
didn’t expect Anthony to play at such a pace, it became faster and
faster, this is normally my game, but today he just played it better
than me, deep and fast shots…
"Today, before the game, I could feel that I was not going to do
well, it didn’t happen to me to feel like that for a long time, I
guess I’m just a bit tired…
"I pushed as much as I could, but after Thierry’s match yesterday my
whole body was aching. But all credit to Anthony, he was just better
than me today…"
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