By Alan Thatcher
From www.squashplayer.co.uk

Commentating on the World Open Championships, Chris Robertson and I were agog at the way Ramy Ashour and Amr Shabana began their semi-final match.

Each one came out attacking straight from the off and the ball hardly got to the back of the court as a succession of drops and boasts ensued.

We were witnessing a very different way of playing the game. The usual rules of engagement were simply ignored. Instead of spending the opening phase of the match hitting the ball to the back corners, which is the norm in most PSA matches as players get a feel for both the ball and the court, these two amazing Egyptians simply went on the offensive, firing in dazzling winners at will.

It was a phenomenal encounter and rated by many seasoned observers as one of the best squash matches in the history of our sport. Shabana knows that he blew it in the fourth game, putting four forehands in the tin. Ultimately, the 21-year-old Ramy went on to win the match and then the title by beating another Egyptian, Karim Darwish, in the final. He followed in the footsteps of the mighty Jansher Khan by adding the senior World Open to the World Junior Championship.

The tournament in Manchester was a perfect illustration of why Egypt now has such a stranglehold on the men's game. Not only did Egypt provide three semi-finalists, there were eight Egyptians in the top half of the draw alone with three in the bottom section.

The current junior world champion, Mohammed El Shorbagy, also achieved a remarkable triumph, removing former world champion Thierry Lincou in the second round. The result, 13-11 in the fifth game, and the length of the match (more than 80 minutes) show the incredible maturity of this amazing 17-year-old who is honing his professional career under the watchful eye of Jonah Barrington at Millfield.

The best British performance was undoubtedly Adrian Grant's victory over No.2 seed Gregory Gaultier but the biggest disappointment was by James Willstrop as he failed to take advantage of Gaultier's exit. Darwish beat Grant in the quarter-finals but Willstrop succumbed again to David Palmer
before the powerful Australian fell to Darwish in the semis.

No doubt Willstrop will have been kicking himself for a missed opportunity, especially after Peter Barker's two immense victories over Palmer on American soil at the start of the season, in Chicago and Baltimore. Willstrop will now be licking his wounds and trying to work out strategies, with his father Malcolm and English national coach David Pearson, of how to deal with Egypt's dominance of the game.

Palmer won't be ... for the rest of the article click HERE 

Be sure not to miss Thatcher on Thursday each week at www.squashplayer.co.uk

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