"It was a tough game. I thought that Graham was playing very well. We were very close throughout the match, but after losing the third, I started to get more concentrated, more focused to be able to put the pressure on him in the fourth..

"I was lucky and relieved to win in four…"

Anthony Ricketts

NICK TOO STRONG…

Nick Matthew played the perfect game against a Shabana not at his top physically, but still as dangerous as ever in the front.

Nick applied a strong pressure from the word go, varied his shots to perfection, preventing the Prince of Egypt from settling into the match and find his rhythm. Physically diminished as well by a sore ankle, Amr couldn’t adjust his lethal attacks, pushed out of position on a regular basis by the relentless attacks of the newly crowded Team World Champion.

Shabana dug in in the third, got territorial possession again and impressed us again with the precision of his attacks. But Nick finished the job in the fourth in an impressive fashion in seven minutes.

The confidence that that boy has acquired since his victory over Lee this summer in Sheffield is impressive, and the trust that England coaches put in him by letting him play the decider in the semi finals of the Team event against Canada a few days ago must have filled his heart with pride and strength. I hope he has stopped doubting his own worth, as he often did in the past….

"You could see that Shabana was not moving to the front as well as he normally does. "But it can be quite tricky as well, because you don’t want to think too much about that, and make him play to the front too much, because although he may have problems getting there, he is still probably the best player in the world at the front of the court… "It’s nice to get a game on the glass court. It’s such a unique set up, it’s quite warm, quite humid, and you feel that you do not have much air to breathe, and the ball is very bouncy… "I learnt a lot watching James playing Shabana in the final of the World Teams event, you could say it was a team effort." Nick Matthew

THE MAGICIAN: CLINICAL DESTRUCTION…

Olli Tuominen played very well today, yet again. This young man is strong, he hits hard, fit as possible, determined and strong willed. But there was nothing he could have done today, and to tell you the truth, I don’t think anybody could have been able to defeat Jonathan Power today.

Playing at an impossible pace, Olli was controlling most of the rallies, but the Master of the Counterattack would systematically win the last point, placing his famous drop shots whereas you thought he was getting out of his comfort zone.

Add to that a few loose shots from Olli that engendered far too many strokes (in particular on the front right corner), a few tins under pressure, and you have the punishing score line of the match. But the Finish fought as hard as he could, and even the last game, 11/1, still lasted 9 minutes…

“After seeing that match and the way you played, I’ll never play squash again”, said Ziad to Jonathan. “That was awesome, I’ll never dare play squash again after such a magisterial demonstration”.

Yes, guys, that good….