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 vs 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 behavior 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!!!!

This evening’s final results are as follows:

(2)Shahier Razik (Cda) def (3)Renan Lavigne (Fra) 8-11; 11-2; 11-7; 11-5 in 76 mins

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. All matches are being played at the Evergreen Squash Club on Vancouver’s North Shore.

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.

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 vs 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 this tournament’s first 3 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?

Play concludes tomorrow with the championship final:

(2)Shahier Razik vs (3)Renan Lavigne at 3:00pm on the show court

This evening’s semi final results are as follows:

(3)Renan Lavigne (Fra) def (7)Bradley Ball (Eng) 7-11; 7-11;11-7; 11-8; 11-9 in 100 mins

(2)Shahier Razik (Cda) def (5)Jonathan Kemp(Eng) 7-11; 11-6; 11-2; 9-11; 11-9 in 65 min

If you ever wondered how competitive squash is played at the highest levels, do yourself a favor 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 displayThe brief summary is that, with one exception, the seeds prevailed. With the #1 seed Joey Barrington losing yesterday in the 1st round the road to the final was made a little smoother for those in the top half of the draw.

The evening matches started with Alister Walker (Eng) the tournaments # 4 seed and world ranked #33, facing his countryman Jonathan Kemp, the tournaments #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 favorite 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.

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 11-10(2-0) victory.

The third game of the evening was eagerly anticipated as the world class retriever, Shahir Razik (Cda), was playing the aggressive Eric Galvez of Mexico. Unusually, Razik started out very quickly and took the first 2 games with identical 11-4 scores. At this point the very knowledgeable gallery sensed that something was amiss and early in the 3rd 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.

The final match featured the hard hitting Englishman, Bradley Ball, who is the #7 seed and world #37 versus Matthew Giuffre (Cda), 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 1st 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 3rd 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 11-10(2-0) victory and the match.

Play continues tomorrow at 2:30pm with the following two semi final matches:

Renan Lavigne (Fra) vs Bradley Ball (Eng) at 2:30pm on the show court

Shahir Razik (Cda) vs Jonathan Kemp (Eng) at 4:00pm on the show court

This evening’s quarter final results are as follows:

Jonathan Kemp (Eng) def Alister Walker (Eng) 11-6; 11-4; 9-11; 11-4 in 50 mins

Renan Lavigne (Fra) def Jan Koukal (Cze) 11-6: 7-11; 11-10(2-0); 7-11; 11-10(2-0) in 94 mins

Shahir Razik (Cda) def Eric Galvez (Mex) 11-4; 11-4; 11-0(ret) in 31 mins

Bradley Ball (Eng) def Matthew Giuffre (Cda) 9-11; 11-1; 11-4; 11-10(2-0) in 56 mins

The 1st 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, Shahier 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 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.

Play continues tomorrow at 6:00pm with the following four matches in the quarter finals:

Bradley Ball (Eng) vs Matthew Giuffre (Cda) at 9:00pm on the show court

Renan Lavigne (Fra) vs Jan Koukal (Cze) at 7:00pm on the show court

Alister Walker (Eng) vsJonathon Kemp (Eng) at 6:00pm on the show court

Shahier Razik (Cda) vs Eric Galvez (Mex) at 8:00pm on the show court

This evening’s 1st round main draw results are as follows:

Matthew Giuffre (Cda) def Joey Barrington (Eng) 5-11; 11-7; 11-9; 4-11; 11-5 in 80 mins

Bradley Ball (Eng) det Migel Angel Rodriguez (Col) 11-6; 11-2; 11-9 in 35 mins

Renan Lavigne (Fra) def Simon Rosner (Ger) 7-11; 11-10(3-1); 11-6; 11-6 in 70 mins

Jan Koukal (Cze) def Omar Mosaad (Egy) 11-4; 11-9; 11-10(3-1) in 56 mins

Jonathon Kemp (Eng) def Aaron Frankcomb (Aus) 11-1; 11-10 (2-0); 9-11; 11-2 in 63 mins

Alister Walker (Eng) def Chris Ryder (Eng) 11-9; 11-9; 11-4 in 36 mins

Eric Galvez (Mex) def David Phillips (Cda) 11-6; 11-7; 11-9 in 42 mins

Shahier Razik (Cda) def Chris Simpson (Eng) 9-11; 8-11; 11-6; 11-5; 11-6 in 83 mins

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.

Play continues tomorrow at 6:00pm with the following eight matches in the opening round of the main draw:

Joey Barrington (Eng) vs Matthew Giuffre (Cda)

Bradley Ball (Eng) vs Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Col)

Renan Lavigne (Fra) vs Simon Rosner (Ger)

Omar Mosaad (Egy) vs Jan Koukal (Cze)

Jonathan Kemp (Eng) vs Aaron Frankcomb (Aus)

Alister Walker (Eng) vs Chris Ryder (Eng)

Eric Galvez (Mex) vs David Phillips (Cda)

Shahier Razik (Cda) vs Chris Simpson

This evening’s results are as follows:

Jan Koukal (Cze) def Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-2; 10-11 (2); 10-11 (2); 11-7; 11-6; 11-9 in 80 mins

Chris Simpson (Eng) def Steve Finitsis (Aus) 3-2; 11-4; 11-3; 11-7 in 36 mins

Chris Ryder (Eng) def Brad Hindle (Aus) 11-6; 4-11; 3-11; 11-7; 11-9 in 72 mins

Simon Rosner (Ger) def Ian Power (Cda) 11-2; 11-10 (5-3); 11-7 in 35 mins

Play began today at the US$20,000 2007 Comfort Inn Open at the Evergreen Squash Club in North Vancouver with the 1st 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 recently 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 worth a spirited effort winning the 1st game and ultimately losing 3-1 to the promising young Czech Jan Koukal.

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.

The evening’s results are as follows:

Jan Koukal (Cze) def Jamie Crombie (US) 3-1; 8-11; 12-10; 11-7; 11-3 in 58 mins

Brad Hindle (Aus) def Jeff Evans (Cda) 3-0; 11-3; 11-6; 11-6 in 29 mins

Chris Ryder (Eng) def Andrew Lynn (Cda) 3-0; 11-9; 11-3; 11-2 in 23 mins

Ian Power (Cda) def Paul Davis (Aus) 3-0; 11-3; 11-6; 11-4 in 27 mins

Steve Finitsis (Aus) def Philip Nightingale (Eng) 3-0

Paul Marley

Tournament Committee

The Professional Squash Association (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 3rd 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, Shahir 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.

The qualifying matches are on Tuesday, January 16 and Wednesday, January 17 with play starting at 6:00pm on both days. The main draw play is underway at 6:00pm on Thursday, January 18 with 8 matches. The quarterfinal matches are at 6:00pm on Friday, January 19, the semis start at 2:30pm on Saturday, January 20 and the final is played at 2:00pm on Sunday, January 21.

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.

Christmas has come early with the confirmation of this year's entries into the PSA main and qualifying draws of the 2007 Comfort Inn Open.

Qualifying action begins on Tuesday, January 16, and will include two of last year's upset winners and fan favourites: 19 year old Simon Rosner of Germany, and the charismatic Paul Davis of Australia.

Main draw action begins on Thursday, January 18, and will include some exciting first round match-ups. The battle of past runner-ups has 2006 runner-up Joey Barrington playing 2005 runner-up Matthew Giuffre (CAN). A couple of evenly matched battles will be the hard-hitting Bradley Ball (ENG) versus the talented Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL), and the crafty Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) versus the 5th seeded Jonathan Kemp (ENG)... As we saw in last year's tournament of upsets, anything is possible and every match will be entertaining.

For complete details, see draws.

The 2007 Comfort Inn Open was officially announced on Squash Canada's website. For more details, see story.

Player Registration for the 2007 Comfort Inn Open is now open. For more information, go to Registration Page.

Preparations for the 2007 PSA Event are under way. Please keep coming back to check for updates.