20-Jan. Final:
[2] Adrian Grant (Eng) bt [3] Shahier Razik (Can)
11/7, 4/11, 9/11, 11/2,
11/1 (88m)
Grant denies Razik repeat Paul Marley reports
Seeking a repeat is always difficult as Canadian #1 Shahier Razik
found out in the final played this afternoon at the Evergreen Squash
Club in North Vancouver.
Slow starts are a well known part of Razik’s modus operandi and,
accordingly, he fell behind 3-8 in the first game despite some
extraordinarily long rallies at a steady rhythmic pace. From time to
time this pace would change to a lightening quick as one or the
other starting searching for the nick. But Adrian Grant
managed to stay the course and won the first game 11-7.
Then, in the second game, Shahier started to be more effective and,
aided by five straight tins by Grant, he racked up seven consecutive
points to win the game 11-4 and tie the match 1-1.
The third game was particularly interesting as the two engaged in a
see saw battle similar to two boxers probing each other for
weaknesses. None were found through 4-4 and then Shahier built a
nice 8-6 lead. Grant fought his way back to tie the game at 9-9 when
Razik notched two consecutive points for the 11-9 win and a 2-1 lead
in games.
But something clicked for the #18th player in the world and Adrian
started to find the nick with some very handy high cut cross courts,
particularly on the forehand side and scored eight straight points
to take an 8-1 lead. He then gave up one more point and won the game
11-2 and tied the match 2-2.
The very appreciative, close to capacity crowd, tried to motivate
their defending champion in the hopes that he could stem the
momentum that Grant had built up. Alas, it was not to be as Grant
had found the probe he was looking for and used his formidable
offensive skills to the max. The key features seem to be a carefully
crafted mixture of straight drives and cross courts that kept
Shahier scrambling out of the back corners only to fall victim to a
well disguised cross court drop or straight drop. The end was quick
as Grant won the game 11-1 and the match 3-2 in 88 mins.
This concluded a fabulous week of squash, not only with the PSA
professionals, but also with the 150 amateurs who were competing at
the same time. Large, enthusiastic crowds were in attendance
throughout the event, including the qualifying rounds, which the
players seem to feed off. And Adrian wasn’t the only winner this
week as all the squash enthusiasts who were able to witness this or
any of the other matches seem to think they had received full value
for the time and money spent.
Looking forward to next year!!!!
Comfort Inn Open 2008
North
Vancouver, Canada, 15-20 Jan, $20k
Round One
17 Jan
Quarters
18 Jan
Semis
19 Jan
Final 20 Jan
[1] Stewart Boswell
(Aus)
10/12, 11/6, 11/4, 11/3 (48m)
Matthew Giuffre (Can)
19-Jan, Semis:
Shahier stays on course ... Paul Marley reports
Third
seed Shahier Razik, registered a massive upset by knocking
out top seed Stewart Boswell, 3-1 in the semi finals of the 2008
Comfort Inn Open, presented by Hosting BC and Odlum Brown at the
Evergreen Squash Club in North Vancouver. The crowd of 250 showered
their favourite son with a long round of thunderous applause in
appreciation of the defending champion's achievement.
The match started in typical Shahier fashion – ultra slow. He lost
the first game 11-1 and some of gallery whispered that this might be
a quick match. But those fans didn’t appreciate that somehow this
start is programmed into his DNA and that all was not lost.
Starting
with the second game we saw Shahier establish the rhythm we are
accustomed to seeing. In other words, he communicated by his actions
that he was going to retrieve all balls unless they crawled out of
the nick. And this he did as only a few can do. Even though
Boswell’s game features a more varied offensive arsenal than
Shahier’s, coupled with the ability to play “tall” even for a
relatively tall man, he couldn’t hit enough winners to get the job
done and Razik went on to win the match 11-8, 11-7 and 11-7 in 62
minutes. The crowd erupted with a long standing ovation.
The
second match featured two Englishmen with contrasting styles
sufficient to interest the most avid squash fan. The hard hitting
Bradley Ball, ranked #34 was probably the crowd favourite as he
was very favourably received by the fans in his visit last year. But
it was well known that Adrian Grant, ranked #18, was a
formidable opponent and would likely deal all that Ball could
handle. The scoresheet would indicate that Grant was having an easy
time of it by building up leads of 6-2 in the first game and 7-4 in
the second game and then proceeding to win both. But, in reality,
Grant had to work very hard to gain the advantage and seemed to do
so by being as quick as a cat and showing an array of well disguised
shots. But somewhere along the line, whether in this or in a
previous match, Ball had tweaked his left knee and was visibly
wincing in the second game. The pain intensified and he had to
retire very early in the third and the hope is that he has not
suffered a serious injury.
So this sets up a wonderful final, with the local favourite and
defending champion Razik, thought of as the marathon man, taking on
a higher ranked player, Grant, who has an impressive array of
offensive weapons at his disposal. We can hardly wait.
18-Jan, Quarters:
Perfect seedings,
but it wasn't easy ... Paul Marley reports
The
quarter final round of the 2008 Comfort Inn Open, presented by
Hosting BC and Odlum Brown, were concluded this evening at the
Evergreen Squash Club in North Vancouver with all four seeds going
through to the semi finals. Only one match was a 3-0 result with
the other three matches being 3-1.
The evening started with top seed, Stewart Boswell, dictating
the pace and controlling the court to win the first game relatively
easily, 11-4, against his popular Canadian opponent Shawn
Delierre. Shawn then took over the early part of the second game
and sprinted out to a 5-2 lead only to see it slowly disappear into
an 11-9 loss. Appearing to not be discouraged Delierre again seized
the lead 6-1 in the third and this time he won the game
convincingly, 11-5. In the fourth game Boswell again established his
dominance and cruised to an 11-3 victory and a 3-1 win to book a
place in the semi finals.
The second match featured the defending champion Shahier Razik
who made many friends at the Evergreen Squash Club in his successful
visit last year. The gallery has become used to the Razik trademark
which is to start slowly and then exhaust his opponent over time.
True to form Razik started slowly but was at his retrieving best and
while his opponent, number seven seed, Julian Illingworth,
won the game, he appeared to pay the price physically in this
grueling thirty minute game. Razik then found his form, and his drop
shot, and sailed through the next two games 11-5 & 11-3. The gallery
had written off the seemingly exhausted Illingworth but somewhere
deep down he found some unused resources and came up with a gritty
effort in his 11-7 loss. So Razik also has a place in the semis
against Boswell.
The score and the time seems to indicate that the number four seed,
Bradley Ball, had a relatively easy time in dispatching
Hungary’s Mark Krajcsak in three straight. But we think this
superficial examination doesn’t pass the test. Krajcsak put in a
very solid effort this evening and his crisp shots, although perhaps
not as hard as Ball’s, were very effective. The first game featured
many extended rallies throughout resulting in a relatively long game
and an 11-9 result. Perhaps this game was Krajcsak’s undoing as he
seemed to get tired thereafter and more and more errors were soon
creeping into his game. Consequently, Ball prevailed 11-6 in each of
the next two games for the victory which was achieved in 42 minutes,
the shortest match of the evening.
The final match of the evening was the eagerly anticipated match
between the talented 19 year old Egyptian, Tarek Momen, and
the second seed Adrian Grant. Momen had impressed the gallery
with his brilliant play last evening and when he showed some of that
same magic and took the first game 11-9, the crowd started to sense
an upset in the making. But, Adrian Grant is #18 in the world for a
reason and he started to calmly and coolly take control of the court
and the Momen-tum that we saw in the first game started to
disappear. But the match continued to be very competitive with Grant
winning the next three games 11-8, 11-9 and 11-5. We think we will
hear of many fine results as Tarek Momen’s career develops.
This sets up the second semi final between Grant and Ball who are
very good friends and roommates for this tournament.
17-Jan, Round One:
Six-Two to the Seeds ... Paul Marley reports
The
first round of the main draw of the 2008 Comfort Inn Open, presented
by Hosting BC and Odlum Brown, were concluded at the Evergreen
Squash Club in North Vancouver with seeds prevailing in six of the
eight matches.
The upsets were provided by Hungary's Mark Krajcsak,
defeating the #5 seed, Chris Ryder and Egyptian Tarek Momen,
defeating the #6 seed, Liam Kenny.
A
strong contender for match of the day was the five set
Krajcsak/Ryder battle which featured two players who appeared almost
identical in size, style and competitiveness. Krajcsak had to rally
from 6-10 down in the fifth to win it 12/10 in 67 mins.
The other contender for match of the day was the see-saw war waged
by Julian Illingworth and Amr Swelim. They are both
close in age (they both turn 24 in the first half of 2008) and both
have similar PSA experience – this is Julian’s 37th PSA appearance
and Amr’s 40th. Although the Egyptian able to stave off match balls
in the third and fifth game, and had match ball in the fifth, it was
Illingworth who won the match in the tie breaker in 82 minutes. The
crowd loved it.
The
other upset saw the 19 year old Momen take on the much more
experienced veteran Liam Kenny, and dazzle with his shot making and
court coverage. The crowd was most impressed as he seemed to have
little difficulty in the 33 minute match. He should be well rested
for his big test tomorrow against the #2 seed, Adrian Grant.
The Canadian supporters were treated with an outstanding match
between two high profile Canadian players, #8 seed Shawn Delierre
and David Phillips. These two quick, athletic, hard hitters
provided many thrills for the crowd but Delierre’s touch combined
with Phillips’ errors proved the difference in this 55 minute
contest.
The remaining seeds: #1 Stewart Boswell looked comfortable in
his 3-1 victory over Canada’s Matthew Giuffre; #2 Adrian Grant
was too much for the popular Simon Rosner; Shahier Razik, the
#3 seed and defending champion had too much patience and fitness for
the very youthful (19 year old) and the very talented Adil Maqbool;
and #4 Bradley Ball had to work very hard for his 3-0 victory
over Bernardo Samper in 53 minutes.
16-Jan, Qualifying Finals:
Pakistan flavour in qualifying finals Paul Marley reports ...
TTe
qualifying rounds of the 2008 Comfort Inn Open, presented by Hosting
BC and Odlum Brown, were concluded this evening at the Evergreen
Squash Club in North Vancouver.
The match of the night was a battle featuring two 19 year old
Pakistani lions, Khawaja Adil Maqbool (we call him Adil) and
the slightly higher ranked, by 11 places, Yasir Butt.
They both played brilliant, attacking, entertaining squash showing
flashes of raw power, stunning exhibitions of agility and wonderful
shotmaking which many have come to consider the Pakistani “style”.
Any weak shot was immediately the recipient of a punishing return
only to be run down and returned again – time after time.
Amazingly, each game ended on extra points, each with an identical
score of 13/11, and each, despite Butt holding a game ball in two of
the three games, was won by Maqbool. This was a wonderfully
entertaining match.
The evening opened with a relatively short match featuring the very
quick and experienced Bernardo Samper of Colombia taking
control at a very early stage and dismissing the game, and
improving, Englishman Jaymie Haycocks 3-0 in 32 minutes.
Robin Clarke, the lone Canadian emerging out of last night’s
first round qualifying round, showed a ton of grit and determination
in his 3-1 loss to the more highly touted Amr Swelim of
Egypt. This was a match of contrasting style featuring Robin’s
height, power and wingspan versus Amr’s quickness and agility.
Although it seemed at times that Amr was going to run away with the
match, Robin wouldn’t go away. However, in the end, quickness
prevailed.
And the final match of the evening featured the very popular German
Simon Rosner, who has endeared himself to the Evergreen
galleries over the past three years, taking on the very likeable but
overmatched Malaysian, Mohd. Nafiizwan Adnan, who happily for
his new Canadian friends likes to be called “One”.
The big German simply had too many weapons and exerted enormous
pressure on One that the match was concluded in 33 minutes with a
3-0 score.
This sets up a very exciting opening round of the main draw tomorrow
with 16 players competing from 9 countries including three members
of Canada’s national team that won 6th place in the World Team
Championships in India early in December 2007.
15-Jan, Qualifying Round One:
Lone Canadian left standing Paul Marley reports ...
The
qualifying rounds of the 2008 Comfort Inn Open, presented by Hosting
BC and Odlum Brown, started this evening with eight Canadians
competing and one surviving. Of course it helped that Robin
Clarke was playing a fellow Canadian which ensured a Canadian
presence in the final round of qualifying tomorrow at the Evergreen
Squash Club in North Vancouver.
On paper, the Canadian contingent was hopelessly overmatched, on the
basis of world rankings, as five of the matches pitted our boys
against rivals whose rankings were at least 50% of theirs.
Accordingly, #68 ranked Egyptian Amr Swelim easily dispatched
# 145 Michal Reid 3-0 despite a wonderful effort by Reid in
the first game to overcome a 9-3 deficit only to succumb in extra
points 13-11 and eventually lose the match 3-0.
Matthew Serediak, ranked # 202, proved very gritty in the
first game against # 84, the Dubia-based Pakistani Adil Maqbool,
by tying the first game 8-all but ultimately losing 11-9 and
eventually the match 3-0.
The same fate awaited # 221 Tyler Hamilton in his match
against #91 Nafiizwan Adnan. The Malaysian cruised to a 3-0
victory in spite of a very spirited second game which was a showcase
for the talents of both players.
#168 Keith Pritchard proved to be a better competitor than
#72 Yasir Butt expected as Pritchard took the first game 11-6
and made the Pakistani work hard for his 3-1 victory, particularly
in the final two games.
And then, #366 Justin Todd seemed to startle #67 Simon
Rosner with his agility, variety of shots and willingness to
endlessly retrieve. Todd gave a wonderful effort and the 3-1
scoreline in the German's favour doesn’t give a completely accurate
picture of the closeness of this match.
The evening wouldn’t be complete without what some might consider a
minor upset as #185 Jamie Haycocks overcame #139 Andrew
MacDougall 3-0 in a match that was also much closer than it
would appear. The third game was particularly interesting as
MacDougall built a 9-4 lead only to see the Englishman hit some
impressive winners to take third game 12-10 and the match 3-0.
Finally there was the all-Canadian match with #80 Robin Clarke
winning 3-0 over #160 Dave Glass in a battle of two big guys
who can really hammer the ball, but with Clarke having a clear edge.
VANCOUVER - Even though
the total prize money is only $30000, defending champion Shahier
Razik considers the Comfort Inn Open next week at the Evergreen
Squash Club in North Vancouver, B.C., so important he skipped this
week's Tournament of Champions in New York.
There won't be a free courtesy car waiting for him at the airport
nor limousine service to the tournament site unless, of course, he
pays for it himself. And he won't even be the top seed. Stewart
Boswell of Australia, ranked 13th in the world by the Cardiff,
Wales-based Dunlop Professional Squash Association will be the one
to beat.
"It's not tennis or golf, yet," said Razik, of the limited number of
perks and prize pot size, "but, yeah, you can make a living at it."
The Evergreen Club tournament has been going for 25 years, but the
pro arm of it - 12 main draw players and four qualifiers from 16
others - is only four years old and the prize money has risen from
$6,000 total to its present $30,000.
"We have 300 members at the club," said tournament chairman Paul
Marley, "and 110 of them are patrons, contribute financially to the
tournament. I think that's impressive."
full story
Comfort Inn Open 2008
Third
seed Shahier Razik, registered a massive upset by knocking
out top seed Stewart Boswell, 3-1 in the semi finals of the 2008
Comfort Inn Open, presented by Hosting BC and Odlum Brown at the
Evergreen Squash Club in North Vancouver. The crowd of 250 showered
their favourite son with a long round of thunderous applause in
appreciation of the defending champion's achievement.
Starting
with the second game we saw Shahier establish the rhythm we are
accustomed to seeing. In other words, he communicated by his actions
that he was going to retrieve all balls unless they crawled out of
the nick. And this he did as only a few can do. Even though
Boswell’s game features a more varied offensive arsenal than
Shahier’s, coupled with the ability to play “tall” even for a
relatively tall man, he couldn’t hit enough winners to get the job
done and Razik went on to win the match 11-8, 11-7 and 11-7 in 62
minutes. The crowd erupted with a long standing ovation.
The
second match featured two Englishmen with contrasting styles
sufficient to interest the most avid squash fan. The hard hitting
Bradley Ball, ranked #34 was probably the crowd favourite as he
was very favourably received by the fans in his visit last year. But
it was well known that Adrian Grant, ranked #18, was a
formidable opponent and would likely deal all that Ball could
handle. The scoresheet would indicate that Grant was having an easy
time of it by building up leads of 6-2 in the first game and 7-4 in
the second game and then proceeding to win both. But, in reality,
Grant had to work very hard to gain the advantage and seemed to do
so by being as quick as a cat and showing an array of well disguised
shots. But somewhere along the line, whether in this or in a
previous match, Ball had tweaked his left knee and was visibly
wincing in the second game. The pain intensified and he had to
retire very early in the third and the hope is that he has not
suffered a serious injury.
A
strong contender for match of the day was the five set
Krajcsak/Ryder battle which featured two players who appeared almost
identical in size, style and competitiveness. Krajcsak had to rally
from 6-10 down in the fifth to win it 12/10 in 67 mins. 
The
other upset saw the 19 year old Momen take on the much more
experienced veteran Liam Kenny, and dazzle with his shot making and
court coverage. The crowd was most impressed as he seemed to have
little difficulty in the 33 minute match. He should be well rested
for his big test tomorrow against the #2 seed, Adrian Grant. 