Rarely have we had the privilege to capture such an amazing and closely contested match over the years, in fact only one comes to mind - Jonathon Power against Peter Nicol in the Super Series Finals 2003. This match was so long and so hard that it’s a wonder James and Stewart could actually stand up at its conclusion, let alone walk off the court unassisted.

Not since his return to the pro tour in 2005 following a two year absence from the circuit due to injury had Stewart played as well as he did during this match. An hour and a half into it he knew that his long road to recovery was finally complete. This former world # 4 is known for his patience and metronomic consistency. Having joined the tour in 1996 during the Jansher Khan’s domination era, this type of play was the norm so he kept with it. James was very much aware of this and was intent on drawing him out of his comfort zone using his vast array of shots to open the court then capitalize on small opportunities. He had been on a dry spell in the latter part of the previous season and was determined to put an end to it.

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If the Egyptian’s playing style pose a threat to many, it doesn’t seem to intimidate one of the most solid and consistent player on tour over the last 10 years - World Champion David Palmer. The young ones can throw all they have at him but the man still find ways to neutralize them using his combination of volley-kill drops followed by kill drives off the pick ups. No wonder he holds more titles than any other active players on the PSA tour.

The one thing Wael and David have in common over most of their peers is size; both are over six feet tall, muscular and solid as rock. If most of their opponents make a habit of clearing their straight path to balls out of concern for their personal safety, these guys didn’t seem one bit concern with such trivial detail playing each other; they stood their grounds making for a highly physical game that kept the referee busy throughout. If you’re into skills & kills and don’t mind a few football or rugby moves, this match has it all. If you enjoy lots of it, you'll be well served as it went the distance being the event’s second longest match behind that of Willstrop Vs Boswell.

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If the years are catching up to John there was no sign of it during this match as he treated us to another bullet-fest classic against a player eight years younger. Seeing John's shots spin in the craziest of angles is a fascinating and unique experience, especially for his opponents who are so often made to look like beginners time and time again, unable to anticipate where the ball will end up after he strikes it. Even when a player performs the best he can against John, as was the case for Darwish, he’ll still come off court after the match wondering what planet he’s just been on.

Darwish had demonstrated his amazing racquet skills a day earlier against my son Shawn sending more “touch drop” kills from the back court areas in a single game than I had witnessed any tour player deliver in a match. Karim would need to draw on every skill in his repertoire, hoping that maybe John would eventually slow down just enough down the stretch… What a superb battle this was.

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This match is unquestionably one of the best on record and certainly the match of a lifetime for at least one the players. Rarely will you get to see so many well executed points in one and the same match. In this day in time, and given how close the top players are to one another, most matches they play are relatively balanced in the sense that they will trade sequences of points and games for the most part until the conclusion of the match.

What makes this one different however is one player’s total dominance over the other and in the longest stretches. Indeed while many of the matches from the Pace Classic are peppered with jaw-dropping rallies and winners, this one is just about entirely made of them. Adding to the mix that Azlan was the clear underdog Vs the tour’s undisputed # 1 made this match the most emotionally charged of all, hang on to your seat, you won’t believe your eyes.

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Egyptian players have taken the squash world by storm in just a few short months; Amr, Ramy & Karim are solidly established in the top 10 followed by Wael, Mohammad and Hisham not too far behind. If we were to speculate on 2 reasons for this quick climb we could say that 1. their playing style is based less on easier to “read” structured patterns than on sheer open ended improvised offence and 2. since they’ve been around each other ever since they first held a squash racquet in their junior days, they are able to anticipate each other’s moves slightly faster than the rest of the pro tour field can.

Maximum offensive and surgically accurate squash executed at formidable speeds is exactly what Karim and Wael treated us to in this match. The fact that Wael had knocked higher seeded Karim from the early round of the World Open on their home turf just a few months back raised the ante and as well the match’s intensity one notch above the rest. As a result we were treated to one of the longest and most closely contested match of the event; couldn’t ask for more really from a squash fan’s point of view.

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Ramy is an amazingly crafty player who loves to send balls rolling into nicks every chance he gets either by striking them @ 100 miles an hour + or by delicately guiding them into floors joints as if they were draw there by some radar homing devices. His A game is disarmingly simple, he play balls randomly either short or deep to the back corners favouring more angles than straight balls and playing faster than his opponents are able to think, this forces them into errors he quickly capitalizes on.

On this day however something happened that would complicate things for Ramy; the court was slightly too hot so balls that would normally die or roll out on most court were sitting up longer than usual giving Anthony that extra second to counter punch Ramy into corners of his own.

So there you have it, Ramy forced out of his A game and having to resort to a more basic B game Vs an in-form Anthony, unarguably the fittest player on tour. What a treat.

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Hisham has no intention to remain in his younger brother’s shadow for too long, it’s clear to him as it is for everyone else that in the siblings’ pecking order it should be the other way around. He may be Ramy’s big bro and favourite training partner but enough already, it’s now his turn to shine whether through his contagious smile and engaging personality off court, or by exhibiting his formidable skills in match play.

If Wael thought that this match Vs his lower ranked opponent would be a walk in the park then he was in for a surprise as Hisham had an answer for just about everything he would throw at him from the start. The match went from being one sided to evening out, then down the wire and within a breath from victory all went blurry for one of the players. What happen then is difficult to explain… was it a distraction - a questionable referee call or a victory celebration started a moment too soon? No one can really be certain but for all of us who play this game and experienced a similar hiccup, we can certainly relate sad to say. A valuable lesson not easily forgotten but that would surely pay dividends in the months to follow…

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#1 ranked player in Canada since Jonathon Power’s retirement last year, Graham had the crowd’s undivided attention, finally; and short of a small detail, he gave them what they had come for - a great fight. Maybe as a result of the years he spent alongside Jonathon, Graham is a remarkably creative player. If it weren’t for occasional but chronic lapses in concentration during many of his career matches, he certainly has what it takes to be amongst the top 5 on the skill and fitness end of things.

But on this day, and in what could very well be his last Canadian Classic match, he was all business matching David shot for shot for well over an hour. Certainly one of the best ever for Graham and David on the attacking and retrieving end, and the event’s 2^nd most emotionally charged given that Graham was the last Canadian standing.

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Ramy and David have held two of squash’s most prestigious title trophies above their heads, that of the world championships - one from the juniors and the other from the senior ranks. While we could have anticipated that David would draw on his vast experience to pressure his teen opponent, things just didn’t turn out as expected. David’s game is based on an overall simple but solid strategy; he sets up points by initially playing balls deep, then he cuts off most loose returns short using either ground strokes or delicate drop volleys.

Ramy’s game is quite similar to that of David but for 3 differences summarized in the same number of words; anticipation, instinct and speed. On this day at least he appeared to anticipate what David would do almost before he actually did it seemingly not by analysing situations as much as by instinctively reacting to them, and sometime faster than the eye could see. One for the record and also for his opponents to study, assuming of course that they can figure out a plan that would counter-act this young man’s instinct and natural speed, not to mention his drive and ambition.