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Comfort Inn Open 2007
16 - 21 Jan,
Vancouver, Canada, $20k |
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21-Jan, Final:
[2] Shahier Razik (Can) bt [3] Renan Lavigne (Fra) 8/11,
11/2, 11/7, 11/5 (76m) |
Local Favourite
takes the title
Paul Marley reports
Canadian Shahier Razik won the US$20,000 2007 Comfort Inn Open squash
title today over defending champion, Renan Lavigne of Marseille, France,
at the Evergreen Squash Club on Vancouver’s North Shore by a 3-1 score.
 This
eagerly awaited match-up was between the retriever extraordinaire, Razik,
and the mentally tough, but one would suspect, fatigued, Lavigne, due to
the 47% more time Lavigne had spent on the court compared to his opponent
in this tournament. But does this extra time on court this week translate
to fatigue – we’ll see.
The match started as one has come to expect a Razik match would start for
him – slowly. He fell behind in the 1st game 1-8 before scoring 5
unanswered points until Lavigne crashed a forehand volley to the left nick
for the 11-8 win in 19 minutes.
The second game was a bit relaxing and casual as the two combatants
supplied ample evidence of sportsmanship and good natured behaviour while
Razik cruised to an 11-2 win in a very quick 8 minutes to tie the match
1-1.
The third game was the turning point as Razik seemed to be determined to
extend every rally as long as possible to determine how much gas Lavigne
actually had in the tank. Beautiful lengths, nicely disguised drops,
clever boasts and even a nick or two, by both, had the players trading
points fairly evenly as they stood at 7-7. Then Razik seemed to take
control and won the game 11-7 in a punishing 26 minutes.
The near capacity crowd of 200, or so, was clearly enjoying the action as
they clapped and screamed their delight throughout the game.
The 4th, and final game as it turned out, was basically controlled by
Razik but not without a few humorous moments. When Razik was about to
serve he was interrupted by a spectator walking to his seat. The referee,
Rod Symington from Victoria, B.C., who has over 20 years of refereeing at
the international level, asked for quiet and for there to be no movement
during the play. To which Lavigne, who was starting to show signs of
tiring, immediately responded – “Are you talking to me?” After another
extraordinarily long rally which ended in a roll out nick for Razik, the
crowd erupted with loud applause and visible clapping. Lavigne, observing
the referee also clapping in appreciation, said, in a most good natured
tone – “I understand that the gallery is appreciating the rally but I
don’t expect the referee to be clapping too”.
It seemed clear that Lavigne was digging as deep as he could to find the
strength to push on. His audible gasps and grunting, which we had never
heard before, seemed to indicate that he truly was starting to run on the
fumes. Razik continued his relentless pressure and concluded the match
with a strategically placed back hand drop to win the game 11-5 and the
match 3-1 in 76 minutes.
So a wonderful five days of PSA squash concluded with a Canadian champion
crowned and the galleries, sponsors, volunteers and club members provided
with many fine memories to dwell on.
Here’s to next year!!!!
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20-Jan, Semis:
Defending Champ v
Local Favourite ...
Paul Marley reports
Semi-final action concluded today in the 2007 Comfort Inn Open with
Canadian Shahier Razik advancing in a 5 set thriller to meet
defending champion Renan Lavigne, who also weathered a 5 setter, in
tomorrow’s final.
Renan comeback denies Ball
In the first semi final match, seventh seeded Bradley Ball of England
started quickly by sprinting out to a 2-0 lead on the strength of his hard
hitting, penetrating style. One started to wonder if #3 seed Renan Lavigne
was feeling the effects of the 9 sets in 164 minutes he had played in the
earlier two rounds. As a result, one did wonder if the veteran campaigner
was on his way out of the tournament, but we also had to know, from our
past experience, that he wouldn’t go easily. He definitely seemed to
regain his confidence as well as his rhythm and he started to take control
winning the next two games 11-7 & 11-6.
In the 5th, Renan continued to play well and built a 10-5 lead when a
desperate, but encouraging, shout was heard from the gallery – “Come on
Brad”. And he responded with some resignation in his voice – “It’s a
little too late for that, isn’t it?” But, amazingly, he came back with 4
unanswered points only to have Lavigne shut the door for the winning match
point after 100 minutes. They left the court to a long, thundering,
standing ovation from a very appreciative, near capacity crowd ringing in
their ears.
It's five for Shahier too
The crowd eagerly anticipated the second semi as it would provide an
interesting battle of contrasting styles. # 3 seed, Canadian Shahier
Razik, is known for his ability to retrieve and to do so almost forever.
His opponent, #5 seed, Englishman Jonathon Kemp, is known for his
attacking, creative shotmaking. As the game seesawed back and forth it
seemed the match would hinge on whether Kemp could make a high percentage
of his attacking shots. For when they were accurate they resulted in
winners. However, to paraphrase an old saying, Kemp lives by the sword and
he dies by the sword and on this day he died. Kemp clanged too many tins
and Razik won the 5th 11-9 and the match 3-2 in 65 minutes. Again the
gallery rewarded the players with an appreciative standing ovation.
A Canadian in the final versus the defending champion is a promoter’s
dream.
One interesting storyline to consider for tomorrow’s final is the fact
that Lavigne has spent 47% more time on the court in the first three
rounds than Razik. Will fatigue be a factor for Lavigne or does his
seemingly strong “will to win” prevail and allow him to take the match to
the fresher Razik?
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Semi-Finals:
Renan Lavigne bt Bradley Ball
7/11, 7/11, 11/7, 11/8, 11/9
Shahier Razik bt Jon Kemp
7/11, 11/6, 11/2, 9/11, 11/9
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 19-Jan,
Quarters:
Normal Order
restored in Vancouver
Paul Marley reports
After the upsets of the opening round, it was the higher seeds who
prevailed on a nevertheless dramatic quarter-finals day at the Evergreen
squash club ...
If you ever wondered how competitive squash is played at the highest
levels, do yourself a favour and drop down to the Evergreen Squash Club on
Saturday or Sunday to see for yourself why Forbes magazine recently ranked
squash high on the ranking of the top 10 “Healthiest Sports”. And the
level that these PSA players play at is more than most of us can only
dream about.
The quarter final round was completed today at the US$20,000 2007 Comfort
Inn Open being held at the Evergreen Squash Club on the North Shore of
Vancouver. Eight players from five countries, including two National Team
members from Canada, put their skills on display
The brief summary is that, with one exception, the seeds prevailed. With
the #1 seed Joey Barrington losing yesterday in the first round the road
to the final was made a little smoother for those in the top half of the
draw.
Kemp wins English matchup
The evening matches started with Alister Walker (Eng) the
tournaments # 4 seed and world ranked #33, facing his countryman
Jonathan Kemp, the tournament's #5 seed and world ranked #30.
A comparison of the seeding and the world ranking of each would leave the
pundits scratching their heads as to who the favourite might be. An
outstanding match was eagerly anticipated.
As play started it was clear that Kemp was firing on all cylinders and
Walker seemed sluggish by comparison. With the exception of the 3rd game
which Walker won 11-9, Kemp seemed to be comfortably in control and won
3-1.
Lavigne outlasts Koukal
The match of the night, and the longest, turned out to be the evening’s
second match pitting #3 seed and defending champion, Renan Lavigne
(Fra) against the impressive Jan Koukal (Cze) who had made a nice
run from the qualifying rounds to this quarter final match.
Just as two prize fighters circle each other and probe for weaknesses,
Lavigne, ranked #29 in the world, and Koukal, ranked #80 in the world,
traded the first four games 2-2.
The fifth game was a beauty. Early in the 5th Lavigne scored 5 unanswered
points to seize the lead 7-3 only to see Koukal, a little later, score 4
unanswered points to lead 9-8. It was a shame to have a loser in this
magnificent game but the more experienced Lavigne dug deep for his 12-10
victory.
Razik races through
The third match of the evening was eagerly anticipated as the world class
retriever, Shahir Razik (Can), was playing the aggressive Eric
Galvez of Mexico. Unusually, Razik started out very quickly and took
the first two games with identical 11-4 scores.
At this point the very knowledgeable gallery sensed that something was
amiss and early in the third game Galvez had to retire due to injury. This
may turn out to be important for Razik as the 31 minute match will leave
him well rested for the semis.
Ball disappoints home fans
The final match featured the hard hitting Englishman, Bradley Ball,
who is the #7 seed and world #37 versus Matthew Giuffre (Can), the
tournament’s #9 seed and winner yesterday over the #1 seed.
The adrenaline rush from yesterday’s victory still seemed to be flowing
for Giuffre as he won the first game 11-9. But he sputtered to a
disappointing 11-1 second game and we wondered if he had left all his
energy on the court last night.
The third game wasn’t that much better for the crowd’s “favorite” son as
he lost 11-4. But Giuffre seemed to find his rhythm in the very
entertaining 30 minute 4th game but he couldn’t quite make it happen as
Ball emerged with the 12-10 victory and the match.
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Quarter-Finals:
Bradley Ball bt Matt Giuffre
9/11, 11/1, 11/4, 12/10
Renan Lavigne bt Jan Koukal
11/6, 7/11, 12/10, 7/11, 12/10
Jon Kemp bt Alister Walker
11/6, 11/4, 9/11, 11/4
Shahier Razik bt Eric Galvez
11/4, 11/4 rtd
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2006 Event
2005 Event |
 Comfort
Inn Open 2007
Vancouver, Canada, 16 - 21 Jan $20k |
Round One
18 Jan 18.00 |
Quarters
19 Jan 18.00 |
Semis
20 Jan 14.30 |
Final
21 Jan
14.00 |
[1] Joey Barrington
(Eng)
5/11, 11/7, 11/9, 4/11, 11/5 (80m)
Matthew Guiffre (Can) |
Matthew Guiffre
9/11, 11/1, 11/4, 11/10(2-0) (56m)
Bradley Ball |
Bradley Ball
7/11, 7/11, 11/7, 11/8, 11/9 (100m)
Renan Lavigne |
Renan Lavigne
8/11, 11/2, 11/7, 11/5 (76m)
Shahier Razik |
[7] Bradley Ball
(Eng)
11/6, 11/2, 11/9 (35m)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Col) |
[3] Renan Lavigne (Fra)
7/11, 11/10(3-1), 11/6, 11/6 (70m)
[Q] Simon Rosner (Ger) |
Renan Lavigne
11/6, 7/11, 11/10(2-0), 7/11, 11/10(2-0) (94m)
Jan Koukal |
[8] Omar Mosaad (Egy)
11/4, 11/9, 11/10(3-1) (56m)
[Q] Jan Koukal (Cze) |
Aaron Frankcomb (Aus)
11/1, 11/10 (2-0), 9/11, 11/2 (63m)
[5] Jonathan Kemp (Eng) |
3Jonathan
Kemp
11/6, 11/4, 9/11, 11/4 (50m)
Alister Walker |
3Jonathan
Kemp
7/11, 11/6, 11/2, 9/11, 11/9 (65m)
Shahier Razik |
[Q] Chris Ryder (Eng)
11/9, 11/9, 11/4 (36m)
[4] Alister Walker (Eng) |
David Phillips (Can)
11/6, 11/7, 11/9 (42)
[6] Eric Galvez (Mex) |
Eric Galvez
11/4, 11/4 rtd (31m)
Shahier Razik |
[Q] Chris Simpson
(Eng)
9/11, 8/11, 11/6, 11/5, 11/6 (83m)
[2] Shahier Razik (Can) |
Qualifying Finals:
Jan Koukal (Cze) bt Tarek Momen (Egy)
10-11(2); 10-11(2); 11-7; 11-6; 11-9 80m
Chris Simpson (Eng) bt Steve Finitsis (Aus) 11-4; 11-3; 11-7
36m
Chris Ryder (Eng) bt Brad Hindle (Aus)
4-11; 11-3; 11-7 36m
Simon Rosner (Ger) bt Ian Power (Cda)
11-10 (5-3); 11-7 35m
Qualifying Round One:
Jan Koukal (Cze) bt Jamie Crombie (Usa)
8/11, 12/10, 11/7, 11/3 (58m)
Brad Hindle (Aus) bt Jeff Evans (Can)
11/3, 11/6, 11/6 (29m)
Chris Ryder (Eng) bt Andrew Lynn (Can)
11/9, 11/3, 11/2 (23m)
Ian Power (Can) bt Paul Davis (Aus)
11/3, 11/6, 11/4 (27m)
Steve Finitsis (Aus) bt Philip Nightingale (Eng) 3/0
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18-Jan, Round One:
MONSTER UPSET IN THE 1ST ROUND
AT THE 2007 COMFORT INN OPEN
Paul Marley reports
The first round of the main draw of the 2007 Comfort Inn Open concluded
this evening at the Evergreen Squash Club in North Vancouver with a huge
upset of the #1 seed, & last year’s finalist, Joey Barrington (Eng), by
the #9 seed, Canada’s Matthew Guiffre, in a 5 set match that lasted
80 minutes.
A member of Canada’s National Squash team and a resident of Edmonton,
Alberta, Giuffre provided the enthusiastic gallery with a real treat.
Probably remembering his 1st round loss a year ago in the PSA tournament
at Evergreen, he seemed very focused and intent on the job at hand. The
match featured some brilliant retrieving by both players but one point of
difference seemed to be Giuffre’s ability to anticipate Barrington’s
forehand cross court and aggressively volley it to the backhand corner.
Time after time this tactic seemed to work and place Barrington under
serious pressure. This was an enormous victory for the very likeable
Canadian and an equally devastating loss for the popular Englishman.
Staying with the Canadian theme, the tournament’s #2 seed and a Canadian
National team member, Shahir Razik, tempted fate with the young
Englishman, Chris Simpson, by losing the 1st two games. However, in
typical Razik fashion, he extended rally after rally to slowly but surely
peg his way back into the match and ultimately winning it in 83 minutes,
which was the longest match of the evening. The “marathon” man prevailed
once again as he has so often in his distinguished career.
Third seed and defending champion, Renan Lavigne (Fra) did not have
an easy time in his match with Simon Rosner (Ger) who last year as a
teenager brilliantly played his way from the qualifying rounds to the
semis. Rosner seemed to cruise through the 1st game 11-7 and then the
gritty, determined Lavigne slowly took charge in a match that lasted 80
minutes. Youth will be served one day, but not today.
And, #4 seed, Alister Walker and qualifier, Chris Ryder, put on a
dazzling show of speed throughout their 36 min match but Walker was too
much for Ryder to handle and won 3-0 in 36 minutes.
Qualifier Jan Koukal (Cze) continued the trend at the Evergreen PSA
events where a qualifier makes an impact in the main draw, just as Simon
Rosner did last year. Flying beneath the publicity radar, Koukal made an
impressive showing in the qualifying rounds and today took on Omar Mosaad
(Egy), the teenager who just 10 days ago won the very prestigious British
Open Junior championship. But Koukal, who in the past has been ranked as
high as #39 in the world, used his speed, determination and veteran savvy
to force Mosaad into making too many errors winning the tightly contested
match 3-0 in just under an hour.
# 7 seed, Bradley Ball, the hard hitting Englishman, overcame
Miguel Angel Rodriguez of Columbia in a match that saw the razzle dazzle
shots of Rodriguez neutralized by the pace of Ball resulting in a 3-0 win.
Eric Galvez the very entertaining Mexican was able to overcome
Canada’s David Phillips 3-0 by using his great speed to get to almost
every ball. The tall Canadian was then forced to hit tighter and tighter
shots ultimately hitting the tin one too many times.
And finally, a wonderful match concluded the evening on court 1 as
Jonathon Kemp quickly won the first 2 games but started to struggle as
the Australian, Aaron Frankcomb, a three in a row participant in this
event, started to find his form and tied the game 2 all. But the popular
Frankcomb seemed to lose his pace and Kemp won the 5th easily.
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17-Jan, Qualifying Finals:
LOTS
OF EXCITEMENT IN THE 2ND ROUND OF QUALIFYING
Paul Marley reports
The qualifying rounds of the 2007 Comfort Inn Open concluded this
evening at the Evergreen Squash Club in North Vancouver. Matches were
played to determine the four players who would move on to the main draw
which starts Thursday night.
The match of the evening, which also provided the only upset, was the 80
min match between Jan Koukal (Cze), #80 in the world, and Tarek Momen,
the talented teenager from Egypt, who is ranked #65. Momen won the 1st
two games in the tie-breaker and then the crafty Czech, who earlier in
his young career was ranked as high as #39 in the world, started to make
his move. He won the next two games 11-7 and 11-6 and seemed to be on
his way. But as often happens in the wonderful world of squash, he
seemed to lose his way and fell behind 9-5 in the 5th. If you believe in
miracles, they happened for Jan this night as he won six straight points
to win the game 11-9 and the match 3-2.
The other match that created some excitement was the match between
Canada’s lone survivor of the 1st qualifying round yesterday, the
veteran Ian Power, and last year’s golden boy, Simon Rosner from
Germany, who as a teenager in our 2006 PSA event, made a magnificent run
from the qualifying rounds to the semi final. Rosner won the first game
11-2 and then emotions started to run high in the second game as the
players were engaging themselves and the referees in some interesting
dialogue. Rosner eventually won this extraordinarily interesting game
11-10(5-3) and closed out the match 11-7.
In the other two matches, Chris Ryder (Eng) def Brad Hindle (Aus) in a
72 minute marathon 3-2 while Chris Simpson (Eng) prevailed over Steve
Finitsis 3-0.
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16-Jan, Qualifying Round One:
Lone
Canadian survives
in North Vancouver ...
Paul Marley reports
Play began today at the US$20,000 2007 Comfort Inn Open at the Evergreen
Squash Club in North Vancouver with the first round of qualifying.
The match results were very much as expected with the exception that
Canada’s Ian Power, ranked #97 in the world, upset world ranked #79
Paul Davis from Australia 3-0. Power, the brother of retired world #1
Jonathon Power, showed wonderful form as he easily defeated the ailing
Davis.
Another match of particular interest was the return of the very popular
8-time Canadian National team member, Jamie Crombie, to the local
squash scene. Now residing in Cincinnati and not seeing as much top level
competition as he would like, he still put forth a spirited effort winning
the first game but ultimately losing 3-1 to the promising young Czech
Jan Koukal.
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top seed Joey Barrington
Play continues tomorrow at
6:00pm with 4 matches to decide which qualifiers will move through to the
main draw which starts on Thursday at 6:00pm.
Qualifying results |
WORLD
SQUASH ON THE NORTH SHORE IN JANUARY
Paul Marley reports
The
PSA tour makes a local stop at the Evergreen Squash Club January 16/21,
2007 to play the US$20,000 2007 Comfort Inn Open.
This is the third
consecutive year for the PSA at Evergreen as the tournament has grown from
a US$6,000 event in 2005 to a US$20,000 event this year. And, as expected,
the draw is significantly stronger than in previous years. For instance,
the #9 seed last year was ranked #76 in the world while this year’s #9
seed, Canadian National Team member, Matthew Giuffre, is ranked #40
in the world.
 Our finalists last year, Renan Lavigne (Fra) and Joey Barrington
(Eng) are returning as this year’s #3 and #1 seeds respectively. They are
ranked #29 & #24 in the world respectively and last year treated squash
fans to a thrilling 110 minute final which saw Lavigne prevail 11/9 in the
5th game.
Canadians are well represented in the tournament. Three are already placed
in the main draw including another Canadian National Team member and our
#2 seed, Shahier Razik, who is ranked #26 in the world. A further 5
more will be competing in the qualifying matches, including popular local
resident & BC’s #2 player, Andrew Lynn.
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In addition, there will be a
strong amateur component to the event as approximately 150 squash players
from the Pacific Northwest will be competing in the men’s & women’s open,
A, B, C & D categories along with 40’s and 50’s age group events.
Those
players planning to participate may sign up on the Squash BC website on or
before Wednesday, January 10, 2007 or at
www.evergreensquash.com
Spectators are welcome as we
have 200 seats available on the show court. Admission is free for the
qualifying matches and the 1st round of the main draw.
For the quarters,
semis & finals there is a $15 per day fee for general admission and
reserved seating is available for each day or for the entire event. Ticket
requests may be made at the club during the tournament or leave a message
at 604-925-2418 or email
ajamie@uniserve.com. |
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3rd CONSECUTIVE PSA EVENT
AT EVERGREEN IN
JANUARY
The Evergreen Squash Club is pleased, for the
third consecutive year, to present PSA squash at the 2007 Comfort
Inn Open being held January 16 – 21, 2007 featuring a US$20,000 PSA 16 man
main draw and a 16 man qualifying draw. In addition there will be amateur
men’s and women’s draws in the Open, A, B, C & D, +40 & +50 categories.
The “Evergreen Open”, as it was formerly
known, has been a most popular event on the local squash scene for the
past 25+ years. In 2005 we decided to build on this popularity by
organizing a PSA event as an additional part of the tournament. We started
modestly as a US$6,000 event. In 2006 we grew to the US$15,000 level and
in January 2007 we are offering US$20,000.
One of the major
upgrades we made to the tournament in 2006 was to increase the seating
capacity. We had room for approximately 60 spectators in 2005 and we
increased the capacity to approximately 200 in 2006. We will do the same
in 2007. There is no charge for the qualifying rounds on Tuesday and
Wednesday evenings nor for the first round main draw matches on
Thursday evening. For the quarters, semis and finals there is a $15.00 per
day charge or one can purchase a reserved seat for the entire tournament
for $100.00.
It will be hard to top
the thrilling 110 minute final last year which saw France’s Renan Lavigne
(world #28) edge England’s Joey Barrington (world # 25) 11/9 in 5 games.
But we attracted 26 professionals from 12 countries and all these young
men have been a joy to host and watch. So, the hope is that the additional
prize money will attract an even more impressive field this year and
continue the tradition of great squash playing and great squash viewing at
the Evergreen Squash Club.
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