MARTIN BRONSTEIN REPORTING FROM THE JOHN BASSETT THEATRE TORONTO

EL HINDI ENSURES ALL-EGYPTIAN SEMIS

Despite  a relapse  in the third game Wael el Hindi of Egypt  took charge of his quarter final against Australian Cameron Pilley to book his place in the semi-finals, which will consist entirely of Egyptian players, who now represent the new force in world squash.

Indeed, Amr Shabana after his match, quipped: “This is like playing in the Egyptian Nationals.”

Using the patented Egyptian short game the ninth ranked El Hindi cruised through the first game controlling the T and putting Pilley, ranked 23 under constant pressure. Pilley fared a little better in the second game but was still making mistakes at crucial points.  When El Hindi won that game it appeared it was all over bar the shouting but the third game saw  Pilley take control and the tiring el Hindi  fell into his well-known trap of blocking after hitting.  The Let count rose to 25 as the referee was brought into  the play on almost every point. At 6-7 there were six lets before the score moved on.

Pilley continued his control and  won the very long game looking as though he could turn the match around.

But El Hindi saw the error of his ways and upped the pace in the fourth game to once more take control and winning it in short order 11-5.

“I don’t know why I changed the pace in the third game,” El Hindi chided himself later. “I suppose I relaxed and let the pace slow, so then it was length and getting in each other’s way and all the lets. There was no pace and no length. In the fourth game I picked the pace up and did what I should have done all along.  But I am learning what is right and what’s wrong and learning to correct my mistakes,” he said.

He will now meet  world champion  Amr Shabana in the semi-finals. Shabana must have felt somewhat relieved when his quarterfinal opponent, Mohammed Abbas had to retire in the fourth game due a foot problem that occurred two days ago.

Up until the retirement these two Egyptians put on a fine display of attacking squash, superb placement with pace and courage as they went for winners without fear.

Shabana won the first, trailing all the way but fighting back to force a tie break which he won 15-13. He ran through the second game and looked set to take the third when Abbas hit a streak  and came from behind to win 11-9.  But at 0-4 in the fourth he shook hands with Shabana and retired.

“I was in pain the whole time and finally could not continue with my foot in the shoe,” said a despondent Abbas later.

Meanwhile Shabana was a bit put off with himself for letting up in the third game.

“I though I had it won,  and started playing around. It was the sort of rookie mistake you make as a junior,” he commented.  He was happy with his racket work and said he felt no pain in his wrist which had kept him out of tournaments for nearly two months.

ASHOUR STILL IN TOP FORM.

After Shahier  Razik  had lost hismatch to Ramy Ashour he was asked if he will do anything different next time he meets Ashour.

“Yeah. I’ll take a cup of coffee before the match so I don’t fall asleep in the first game,” he replied, referring to  his 11-1 drubbing in the four-minute first game.

Razik, who moved from Cairo to Canada at the age of 12, got up to speed in the second game and needed all his considerable experience to stay in touch with the world number two, who is still the reigning world junior champion. Although Razik played well, Ashour’s accuracy and speed was too much for the Canadian, and at the end of the 12 minute game, Ashour left the court the 11-8 winner.

The story was much the same in the third: some wonderful rallies with both players being pushed to their limits but Ashour always coming out on top at the end. He took the game 11-7 to finish the 34-minute match and move on to the semifinals.

Only then, Ashour feels, will he know how well he is playing.

“Yesterday and today, my opponents are not as competitive as Shabana or Darwish, so I don’t know if I am back to top form,” explained Ashour, who is returning to match play after 3 months out due to a heel injury.

“I had pain yesterday, but not today.  Shahier let me get the first game but then he played really well – I didn’t think he would play that good. So it was good that there was no pain in my foot.”

Razik was philosophical about the result.

“Apart from the first game I was happy with the way I played. He is explosive off the T, so it is hard to hit drop shot winners. He puts pressure on you all the time and his speed from side to side is deadly.  The only way to beat him is keep the rallies going and then he will make mistakes. The match was over in 34 minutes. I still had 117 minutes left in me,” Razik commented.

DARWISH CRUISES OVER OFF-FORM BOSWELL

In a match that never caught fired Egypt’s Karim Darwish, ranked eight in the world,  took a straight games  11-6, 11-7, 11-0 victory of Stewart Boswell of Australia , ranked six places below him.

Boswell, once a top ten player, was never able to dominate the match as his short game let him down time and time again. Darwish on the other hand was fast, fluent and accurate.  After losing the first two games  Boswell couldn’t do a thing right as Darwish ran away to win the game 11-0, a rare occurrance at this level of squash.

PACE CANADIAN CLASSIC QUARTERFINALS RESULTS
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [7] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 11-10 (5-3) 11-5 9-11 4-0 ret
[5] Wael el Hindi (EGY) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-5 11-7 8-11 11-5 (76m)
[4] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [6] Stewart Boswell (AUS) 11-6 11-7 11-0 (37m)
[2] Ramy Ashour  (EGY) bt [8] Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-1 11-8 11-7 (34m)

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