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"I think it’s important to thank Ziad for getting involved in the sport, and for all the time and energy he is spending. We all feel he is bringing squash to another level.

Also, since I’m a kid, I remember watching Queen’s on TV, watching the tennis, and now, here I am. This is a dream come true for me. Thanks Ziad.

"It’s good to get another game, and play another match, I felt I got better match after match. Tonight, Wael was playing all the fancy shots, I was just returning! He is such an addition to the Tour, we always have great matches…

"This is a new venue, I did like the Broadgate Arena, that was one of my favourite places too, but this is a new venture for all of us, and we are very excited about it.

"I must say I wish I was 22, not 32, I can see all the changes that are happening in the game, and that give me the envy of playing more and more, and staying at the top level a little more longer…"

David Palmer bt Wael El Hindi
          7/11, 11/6, 11/9, 11/9 (51m)

A double statement from a long-time great
Richard Eaton reports

David Palmer made a statement with both words and deeds that he intends to stay at the top of the game for some while yet, as he finished his campaign at the Super Series finals with a win.

The twice former world champion may be 32 years old now, but he revealed an enduring appetite, tactical acumen, and a fine mixture of pace in attack while overcoming the considerably younger Wael El Hindi.
Although the Egyptian looked the fresher and nimbler in the first game, the Australian warmed to his task and got good starts in each of the next three games, keeping his nose in front in all three of them.

There was an exhibition feel to some of the rallies, notably when Palmer stroked three diagonal lobs and El Hindi made three diagonal dashes in a patter which had the crowd simultaneously laughing and applauding.
“It's a great venue, and great crowds, and I wish this had been around ten years ago,” Palmer said. “But it makes me want to hang in there and stay with these guys.”

He also described El Hindi as the future, and he did indeed play with the enthusiasm of a younger man, though it has taken him till the age of 28 to qualify for the event for the best eight players in the world.
El Hindi came from 6-6 with a run of four points in the first game, and closed it out with a nicely judged boast winner which faded away like a whisper.

But Palmer started to get his volleys into the attack more in the second, using his height and reach, and, as so often, proving especially dangerous in the top left corner.

When he levelled at a game all and then took the first four points of the third, the match began to change character. But it retained its humorous feel.

At 9-6, El Hindi claimed that the referee had called the previous point 6-7, gaining such a rapid “no I didn't!” that even the player looked impressed with the speed of the retort.

EL Hindi played some of the more improbable strokes, including a succession of inside-out drops, not all of which finished above the tin, and one vicious drive off the back wall which made Palmer hop anxiously in the air to ensure it missed him.

The former champion nevertheless progressed steadily to a two games to one lead and to an 8-5 lead in the fourth game before he was halted – though it was by a semi-musical trio of notes which came from a loudspeaker system.

“Arriving at platform one,” said Palmer satirically, and after winning the replayed rally he soon reached his own destination: victory and the feeling that his match play is improving again.

He will need it too. These two play each other again in the first round at Canary Wharf next week.

Amr Shabana bt Ramy Ashour
          11/9, 11/3, 11/2 (24m)

Shabana makes last gasp
effort to reach final
Richard Eaton reports

Amr Shabana, the former world number one who began the Super Series final with a defeat, with his left knee taped, and with continued doubts about his fitness, enjoyed proving his doubters wrong with some typically entertaining deception.

Shabana won 11-9, 11-3, 11-2 against his Egyptian compatriot Ramy Ashour, the world champion, notching his second success of the tournament and keeping alive his chances of qualifying for the final.

He achieved it in only 24 minutes, which was a complete contrast to his disappointing opening day defeat to Thierry Lincou, and also very different to the fierce and brilliantly contested victory over James Willstrop.

But it was not only the well-masked strokes which made Ashour plunge around the court which were a surprise. His slow return to match play after his injury problems had also masked how real were his chances of getting close to place in the final.

�"It's an old trick,"� he clowned as Robert Edwards, the MC, apologised on behalf of quite a number of doubters.
but Shabana wisely wouldn't be drawn as to his chances of regaining the world number one spot. all he would admit to was improving with the match practice, coupled with the assertion, that, bandage or no bandage, the knee was now all right.



But it was only in the first game that he was seriously tested. Thereafter Ashour was subdued, as he has been much of the time since his opening loss to Willstrop. Once again he didn't look himself, and the sooner he is again, the better for all of us.

There were brief moments of magnificence from both of them in the first game. Shabana went ahead at 7-4, before Ashour came back promisingly to 9-8 with a wonderful lob to a tight line.

But two forehand drives into the tin and the loss of the first game sent him into his shell, and Shabana, who had begun to hit the ball with more and more venom.

He hit several wrong-footing cross courts, and also moved with more confidence with the thrusting changes of direction in the front court.

The result was evident by 3-1 in the third game and the match ended with sobering swiftness, enlivened only by Shabana's nice quip. Ashour disappeared quickly, hopefully to regroup his faculties and to come again strongly. He is far too good to play like this.

It left Shabana hoping for Willstrop to score a victory over Lincou which would create a three-way split of players with two wins at the top of the group, and the chance of sneaking through on a count-back of games.

"Yes, pretending I’m injured in the first match, that’s an old trick I use sometimes….!!!!!!!!

"No, when you come into a tournament like this one, playing the top eight players, you are not feeling sure of yourself, so the first match was a bit wobbly, but after that, I felt not too bad.

"When you are a player, you always try and get to be the best, I’ve been at the top of the rankings, I’m not sure, but I hope I can do it again.

"It’s a great honour for me to have been elected President of the PSA Board, we feel that this event is the starting point for squash, and marks the start of a new age for our sport…"

"It was a very intense game, I had to play at my best, Karim is world number 1, and that was a tough tough game… Last time he beat me, I beat him this time, and next time, he’ll take his revenge.

"I was not happy to lose the first game, so I tried to refocus and… I just refocused, as simple as that!

"On this tournament, I feel that I’m almost at my best, I’m strong, I feel I can pick up any ball, I’m relaxed on court, I concentrate on my game, and my game only, I don’t pay any attention to whatever happens outside the court, and it’s like that I’m enjoying my squash fully.

"I’m glad that Thierry is playing so well, last tournament, he was a bit under the weather, a chest infection, so I hope he’ll play well tonight. It would be awesome to have an all French final, we never had one, it would be awesome for France, for the French Federation, and for everybody back home…"

Gregory Gaultier bt Karim Darwish
          10/12, 11/5, 11/9, 11/7 (59m)

Gaultier title defence goes
all the way to the final
Richard Eaton reports

Greg Gaultier continued to look the tournament's form player as he edged his way past world number one Karim Darwish and carried the defence of his Super Series title all the way to the final.

The Frenchman's win over the Egyptian was a triumph for slightly greater flair at important moments, but also for the ability to mix the unexpected with lengthy bouts of disciplined rallying against one of the tour's most consistent rallyers.

Gaultier also had a couple of pieces of good fortune which helped him win the pivotal third game from a 6-8 deficit. Once he had done that his movement developed a more arrogant stride, and he always had his nose slightly in front in the fourth.

“I gave my best you know,” he said. “Karim is world number one and it was so close. It was tough to lose the first game, and I just had to refocus.”

So close in fact, that it's possible that the knock on the head which Gaultier received at 6-8 in the third game influenced the mood of the contest sufficiently to deflect the flow which had been moving against him. Gaultier responded to it by walking around with his hand clasped on the place of impact, before leaving the court, and taking four minutes in which to re-assemble his faculties.

Prior to that Darwish had been moving nicely, with his rhythmic drives, considerable patience, and impressive court coverage, coming from 1-5 down to his two-point lead.

After it, Darwish lost three points in a row, and despite producing one excellent rally on game ball which finished with a let, he lost the game when Gaultier fortuitously got a back wall nick which made the ball roll dead.

The fourth game saw Gaultier hurry to 4-1, only for Darwish to peg him back to 4-4 and suffer another small piece of ill fortune. A Gaultier drive took a nick half way back and Darwish, showing his irritation, responded by placing a volley down and losing a brilliant drop-shotting exchange to sink to 4-7.



Darwish continued to battle but by now Gaultier was smelling a victory which he clearly relished. He finished the match with a brilliant volley drop, which took enough of a half-nick to become unreturnable, and with an even more brilliant smile.

It was these moments of invention which enabled Gaultier to capitalise on his moments of fortune and which make him so dangerous when allied to the intensity he revealed here.

It also left the feeling that, whoever he plays, he would start the final as the favourite.

James Willstrop bt Thierry Lincou
          11/8, 11/8, 4/11, 3/11, 11/6 (63m)

Lincou makes it an all-French final
Richard Eaton reports

Thierry Lincou ensured that there will be an all-French final to the Super Series Finals, even though he was beaten in his last group match by James Willstrop in a curiously high-charged five-game encounter in which Lincou was close to elimination at two games down and Willstrop was at risk of disqualification through what is politely called the bleeding rule.

Lincou only had to win one game to be sure of reaching the final against Greg Gaultier, because he had a superior games difference to either Willstrop or Amr Shabana – but the older of the two Frenchman was looking distinctly rocky and unsure of progressing when he went two games down.

At that stage Willstrop was playing close to his best, despite having taken a heavy knock on the nose after only two points, an injury which necessitated a 15-minute break and left him knowing that more blood would cause the match to be awarded to his opponent.

But much seem to change with the anger which Lincou generated after being denied a let on the final point of the second game and then seeing a let given to the Englishman on the second point of the third game.

The second decision certainly surprised some people, and both seemed like home town decisions to Lincou, who came out of the court and drew attention to the replay of the first decision on the giant screen, and then bellowed “no, no” loudly after the second.

That brought one of the game's great gents an admonishment: “Mr Lincou, it's the referee's decision,” he was sharply told.

Lincou halted his dissent, but he launched with a great fury into the next rally, and the adrenalin he got from the sense of injustice appeared to focus his mind wonderfully. He raced to 3-0, battled through a sequence of lets, still smouldering, and then advanced quickly again to 5-1, 6-1 and 7-1.

After one very long rally, when Lincou eventually got through with a beautifully caressed drop after three previous attempts had been retrieved by Willstrop, he beamed with fierce joy and shook a bent-armed fist at the wall.

Willstrop kept plugging away but saw his last chance of qualifying disappear at 10-4 when he slightly mistimed a forehand drive into the middle of the court, was unable to offer his opponent a fair view of the ball, and conceded a penalty point. Lincou resisted the temptation to utter a “touche”.

Willstrop's resistance was less stern after that, and the only surprise was that Lincou's embattled attitude continued for as long as it did through a surprisingly competitive final game.

With a final less than 20 hours away he expended more energy on many twists and turns in several very strongly contested rallies before fading from 6-6 in the fifth game and wisely letting the last point go.

The final score was 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 3-11, 11-6, though a more significant statistic was that it lasted, including the injury break, for almost an hour and a half. Gaultier must be an even firmer favourite now.

Later Lincou was asked why he had continued trying so hard after he had already qualified and admitted that he had not realised. "I thought I had to win two games," he said. "No - only one," he was told. "Oh shit," blurted Lincou. "And would you like to repeat that?" he was asked. "Ah, merde," he said.

It meant that Amr Shabana's earlier effort in scoring his second win, with a straight games conquest of Ramy Ashour, carried him only as far as a third place play-off tomorrow with Karim Darwish.

"Same old story. I took a great start, but I keep falling out! We’ve got to make it change….

"I started well, but I had on my mind that I had to win 3/0, and against Thierry, that’s not an easy task. And that’s not a normal situation, you never think that in a normal match, but because of the circumstances, I had to.

"And I was really comfortable to start with, I was flying at 2/0 up, but then, Thierry played as he knows how, some really great accurate squash. Still I managed to come back into it, and I’m very proud I eventually won in five…"

What, I only needed one game??? Merde!!!

When I started the match, I wasn’t really into it, and James was playing great squash, deep shots, putting a lot of pressure on me. He really played superbly during the first two games, preventing me from mixing my shots and limiting my choices. And to be honest, I was struggling to win any point.

So I told myself to pick the pace up to try and really move him around, I really had to step up several gear, pushing myself very hard indeed in the 3rd and 4th. He went a bit down in energy, while I was getting more comfortable with my pace, and he let me varying my shots a bit more.

I then I try and stay in there to win the match, but I was a bit up and down in the fifth…

I’m delighted to be in my 4th SSF in 8 participations. It’s a great result for me…