Home Hero Ryding Rallies Through To Last Sixteen In Toronto

Graham Ryding single-handedly led domestic interest through to the last sixteen of the PACE Canadian Classic in his home town Toronto when he beat US champion Julian Illingworth in the longest match on the opening day of the first PSA Super Series event of the year.

The Canadian number one had to fight surprisingly hard to beat Illingworth, the most promising player to come out of the USA for a decade. Illingworth is currently ranked 91 in the world compared to Ryding's lofty 23, but the American is a rapidly improving player and 16th seed Ryding had a tough fight before prevailing 10-11 (0-2), 11-9, 11-3, 9-11, 11-4.

A dream match for Canadian squash fans saw the country's number two Shahier Razik take on the world number one Amr Shabana of Egypt.

The two players actually grew up and competed together as children in Cairo. Fifteen years ago Razik’s family moved to Toronto and since then he has played under the maple leaf flag. While 29-year-old Razik has fought to get into the top echelon - he is now world number 26 - Amr Shabana has brought discipline to his naturally scintillating shots to create a world beating deadly combination. The 27-year-old has twice won the world title and this month celebrated his tenth month as world number one.

Despite the disparity in rankings, Shabana did not have it all his own way. Razik gave as good as he got, pushing Shabana in the first and second games - both players marshalling their best efforts for game three.

Shabana was up 10-9 up and ready to close out the match, but Razik had other ideas, forcing an error out of Shabana to tie the game at 10-10, sending it into a tie-break. The excitement built as the two players doggedly swapped point for point with Shabana unable to get the vital two point lead for victory. Razik’s determination was eventually rewarded with a penalty stroke to win 16-14 and give hope for a Canadian victory.

Shabana upped the pace in the fourth game, running out to a 7-2 lead with the help of some lucky nicks. He stifled a come-back run by Razik at 9-6 and went on to take the game after eight minutes - and the match 11-8, 11-7, 10-11 (4-6), 11-6 in 63 minutes.

The only upset of the day came when England's fourth seed Nick Matthew was forced to concede his match against Egypt's unseeded Hisham Mohd Ashour. The world number five from Sheffield was 1/2 down to the Egyptian when he tripped over Ashour's foot and twisted his ankle so badly that he was taken to hospital. Wisely, Matthew decided to retire even before the x-rays were taken - giving the match to Ashour in a 9-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8, 8-5 ret. scoreline.

1st round:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-8, 11-7, 10-11 (4-6), 11-6 (63m)
[12] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Matthew Giuffre (CAN) 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 (26m)
[6] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-2, 11-4, 11-9 (26m)
[14] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt Rafael F Alarcon (BRA) 11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7 (47m)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 11-6, 11-9, 11-3 (41m)
[9] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [Q] Bernardo Samper (COL) 11-4, 2-0 ret.
[5] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [Q] Dylan Bennett (NED) 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 (31m)
[15] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt [Q] Simon Rosner (GER) 11-8, 11-4, 11-8 (33m)
[10] John White (SCO) bt [Q] Omar Elborolossy (EGY) 11-10 (2-0), 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6 (51m)
[8] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [Q] Shawn Delierre (CAN) 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 11-5 (51m)
[13] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt [Q] Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) 11-3, 11-9, 11-8 (37m)
Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt [4] Nick Matthew (ENG) 9-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8, 8-5 ret.
[11] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt Dan Jenson (AUS) 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (25m)
[7] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Alex Gough (WAL) 11-7, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8 (39m)
[16] Graham Ryding (CAN) bt [Q] Julian Illingworth (USA) 10-11 (0-2), 11-9, 11-3, 9-11, 11-4 (71m)
[2] David Palmer (AUS) bt Liam Kenny (IRL) 11-8, 11-9, 10-11 (2-4), 11-5 (67m)