THE CLIMAX of the richest squash event on the PSA Tour this year, between Egyptian Amr Shabana, who is also the new world number one, lived up to all expectations in the final of the Virtual Spectator Bermuda PSA Masters in Hamilton, Bermuda. Shabana was taken the full distance by England's sixth seed Peter Nicol, but ultimately prevailed to win the PSA Super Series Platinum event, presented by Logic and hosted by Endurance, in a 65-minute encounter which had it all 3-2: 9-11, 11-6, 11- 7, 2-11, 11-8. Shabana celebrated this month as the new world No 1 squash player, becoming the first Egyptian to come in first. Shabana now tops the list with a total of 8593.750 points from 11 tournaments to jump in April from third to first place. He is followed by Australia's David Palmer with 7375 points and England's James Willstrom with 6593.75 points. Shabana became the 10th player to top the list since the world seedings in squash were introduced 20 years ago. The highest seeding an Egyptian had previously reached was No 3, by Ahmed Barada before his career was prematurely cut short following a knife attack by a mystery assailant. Shabana's rise to the No 1 spot began in 2003 when as ninth seed, he stormed through a star-studded field in the World Open in Pakistan to beat the future world No 1 Thierry Lincou in the final -- and become Egypt's first winner of the sport's premier title. The 24-year-old left-hander from Cairo first showed his promise when he was runner-up (to compatriot Ahmed Faizi) in the British U-14 Open in January 1993. Four years later he reached the final of the British U-19 Open, where he again lost to Faizi. A PSA member since 1995, Amr claimed his first Tour title in July 1999, winning the Puebla Open in Mexico. Seven days later he grabbed his second, the Mexico Open, again beating Australia's Craig Rowland in the final. But 2003 proved to be a year of extremes for the Egyptian -- victory in the revived Spanish Open in Seville (where, unseeded, he toppled second-seed Australian Anthony Ricketts in the first round before defeating higher-ranked compatriot Karim Darwish in the final) complemented by first round losses in six other events. Before arriving in Lahore for the World Open in December, Shabana had not fared better than a second round loser in all other Super Series events that year. He made his World Open breakthrough, however, when he despatched title-holder David Palmer, the third seed, in five games in the third round. He then went on to take out Palmer's Australian team-mate Anthony Ricketts in the last eight. Amr reached his seventh PSA Tour final after defeating Darwish (the Egyptian No 1) in a four-game semi-final. By now it was known that Lincou would be the next world No 1 -- but Shabana continued to ignore the status of his opponents as he swept to a 15- 14, 9-15, 15-11, 15-7 over the Frenchman to lift the biggest title of his life. As Nicol world No 6 from England who played against Shabana in the PSA Super Series Platinum event in Hamilton said: "he (Amr) is a phenomenal talent and the man to beat. He's good for the game. I played him in the World Open in December and he took me apart. It will be great to have another crack at him."
