Egypt flexed its muscle at the PACE Canadian Squash Classic in Toronto yesterday, dominating the field in first-round play and surprising no one.

Half of the top eight seeds in the tournament are Egyptian, including the top two ranked players in the world who fittingly have won the tournament at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre the past two years.

Defending champ Ramy Ashour, the No. 2 seed, disposed of Czech Jan Koukal in straight sets 11-9, 11-7, 11-6, while top-ranked 2006 tournament winner Amr Shabana barely broke a sweat in knocking off Edmonton's Matthew Giuffre 11-4, 11-9, 11-7, needing just 26 minutes for victory.

Giuffre, ranked 58th in the world, strung together a few solid rallies but seemed ultimately baffled by the efficient wizardry of Shabana, the 2007 Player of the Year.

"I'm not used a seeing a lot of those shots," Giuffre said, referring to the way the ball danced off of Shabana's racquet. "I don't get that level of play at all (in Canada)."

Five Egyptians will advance to tonight's quarter-finals, all of them whisking their opponents away in straight sets. One Canadian, 22nd ranked Shahier Razik, did move on - but of course, he was born in Cairo.

To be fair, squash in Egypt is simply a heightened affair. Their command in the PACE tournament would be like Sidney Crosby travelling to the Pyramids and winning a puck control relay: it's expected.

"It's a whole different element over there," said three-time PACE champ Jonathon Power, the Canadian legend who retired in 2006. "The president calls you if you get a big win. I don't think (Prime Minister) Harper's talked to too many of our guys."

But the real lure of the tournament lies inside the prospect of an all-Egyptian semi-final with the rivalry between countrymen Shabana, 28, and Ashour, 20.

The two have been billed as the Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal of squash, and were again in fine form last night.

"Both guys seem to do a lot of standing in the middle while their opponent does all the running around," Power said. "They're both just masterful tacticians."

Shabana, who has beaten Ashour on four of five occasions, showed why he's compared to Federer with his hot precision.

Though Ashour, said to be a creative force like Nadal, showed he can play a tight game as well.

"We are a lot like Federer and Nadal," Shabana said with a smile. "Only without the three bank accounts, five houses and four cars."

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