MARTIN BRONSTEIN REPORTING FROM THE JOHN BASSETT THEATRE TORONTO

In a huge departure from the norm, there were no Brits in the Pace Canadian Classic main draw due to date clash with the British National Championships taking place in England.

But there were seven Egyptians in the 16 man draw and when play started at the Toronto Athletic Club at noon, naturally the first match was an all- Egyptian affair as Mohammed Abbas  easily beat  Yasser el Hallaby in straight games.

Next up  Wael el Hindi   beat Canadian Shawn deLierre despite having spent 11 hours at JFK airport in New York, waiting for  the snow in Toronto to clear up before the planes were allowed to get airborne.

A BIT OF HOME TOWN ACTION

Play opened with two Canadian players in the first two matches at the   main venue,   Bassett Theatre in Toronto. Top ranked Canadian Shahier Razik ranked 22 in the world,  earned a spot in the quarter finals  with a 3/0 victory over  the 29th ranked Miguel Rodriguez of  Columbia.

This was an unexpectedly short match; both Razik and Rodriguez tend to like the two hour match and can push attritional squash beyond bearable boundaries. Rodriguez was particularly puzzling in his quest for winners, hitting a string of unforced errors on his way to helping Razil to a  straight games victory in 46 minutes, usually the length of a couple of games in his matches.  Rodriguz was lightning fast  but seemed less hungry today than he usually is.

Razik’s reward is a quarter-final meetings with Ramy Ashour, who  was over-relaxed in his match against Czech Jan Koukal. Ashour hit a lot of errors and not the usual number of winners,  but he was obviously confident of the outcome.

SHABANA’S SHARP START

Amr Shabana, absent from the circuit for two months,   showed no signs of rustiness in his first round matchHe took just 26 minutes to beat  Guiffre with a dazzling array of winners and inch perfect length that left the Canadian without any answers. 

Guiffre ranked 58 in the world had some fine patches, especially in the second game, when he came back from  1-5 down to  put together  a good run of points which included three outright winners – not the sort of thing that is expected when playing one of the best shotmakers in the world.

Trailing 5-6 Guiffre  spoiled his own run with an error, but still never gave up, fighting back from 7-10 to 9-10 before Shabana hit another crisp cross court forehand to win the game.

Shabana seemed relaxed and came out for the third game still hitting finely cut shots and keeping Guiffre under pressure.  But the Canadian was level at 5-5 to keep hope alive. Two more beautiful winners from Shabana put him in control and then  a broken string on Guiffre’s racket causing an error and  it was all over in Shabana’s favour.

“I couldn’t handle his length and accuracy,” Guiffre commented after the match. “It’s awesome playing the best in the world. I wasn’t hugely shell-shocked because I used to play Jonathon Power a lot. But I simply don’t get that level of opposition back in Edmonton.”  When asked to compare the great Canadian, now retired and Shabana, Guiffre said that Power was the more aggressive.

“He hit the ball harder than Shabana, but Shabana  is more accurate.”

Shabana has been troubled with a wrist problem and has not played a tournament for almost two months.

“I took four weeks off after the world team championships in December and only started practising a month ago. Right now I’m relaxed because I am happy to be playing. When you have an injury you never know if you will play again,” said Shabana who won this tournament two years ago.

PALMER  BOWS OUT - STIFFLY

The best match of the day was the upset of the day as Cameron Pilley, ranked 23, beat world number four David Palmer in four games, but it was a victory  coloured by Palmer’s lower back injury.

He had injured it three days ago in training and despite spending four hours with the physio today he felt the back go again after the third point of the first game and Pilley ran away with the game 11-4 in short order.

Trailing 4-5 in the second game, Palmer requested an injury break and was subjected to some gruelling manipulation by the physio. He came back on court obviously hampered but insisted on playing on. He lost that game11-5, his ability to twist left forcing him, as he said to the referee, run around on one leg.

Against all good common sense, Palmer came back for the third game and, such is his competitive spirit, forced Pilley into a 31 minute game which went to a 16-14 tie-break in Palmer’s favour. Could he pull it off ? Had his back loosened up? No and No

He tried to keep up the challenge but when Pilley went to an 8 –2 lead  Palmer knew the game was up and  Pilley won  11-4 to earn a surprise quarterfinal berth.

RESULTS FIRST ROUND
Amr Shabana (EGY) bt  Matthew Guiffre (CAN) 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 (26mins)
Shahier Razik (CAN) bt Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 (46mins)
Wael el Hindi (EGY) bt  Shawn Delierre (CAN) 11-7, 11-8, 11-4 (41mins)
Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt  Yasser el Hallaby (EGY 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 (34mins)
Ramy Ashour  (EGY) bt Jan Koukal (CZE)  11-8, 11-7, 11-6 (24mins)
Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt David Palmer(AUS) 11-4, 11-5, 10-11 (4-6) 11-4 (68mins)

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