SPEED AND FLAIR, SHOW ME ANYBODY MORE FUNNY THAN MIGUEL ANGEL RODRIGUEZ

We can be really grateful that Miguel Angel Rodriguez has chosen to play squash. Just imagine what football player he could have become for example (and how much money and fame he could earn with that). Not only is he incredibly quick, he's got also an interesting deception and a special sense of humour that he can express with his movement and shots whilst playing the world #2. Look how cool he waits on the 'T' whilst Nick Matthew is in front of him at 0:26 or the surprise factor of his deep lob at 0:44, or the way he walks after another lob at 0:53, like on a promenade on a sunny Sunday afternoon, or the way he reacts to Matthew's bump after he sent him the wrong way with a great straight deep forehand volley at 0:56 - it's all quality and funny at the same time. Mr. Rodriguez, you are hilarious and we are enjoying very much your presence on the PSA World Tour. Keep walking! Keep running like crazy!

RETRIEVING MEANS COUNTER-ATTACKING: RAMY ASHOUR vs. TAREK MOMEN

Probably the two most exciting players to watch on the tour, Ramy Ashour and Tarek Momen give us a pretty good example of how the Egyptians conceive the idea of "retrieving". In their eyes, retrieving is not always just getting out of trouble, it is also opportunity to counter-attack in unattended fashion. 

In general Egyptian squash is labelled as attacking, and it is exactly the attacking mentality that teaches them also, as a logical consequence, the retrieving skills. At the end of the day, Ramy wins as many points with inch-perfect width and length as he does with his more fancy solutions, the volley-nicks and cross-drops. 

Concerning Tarek Momen, this rally demonstrates that he is very near or equal to Ramy when it comes to attacking; but he doesn't really master yet the notion of "squeezing a point out of the opponent", he mostly wins (and loses) his points either with a straight winner or a tin. As soon as he learns just a bit from Ramy how to vary more the factors of pace and heights, he will knock straight away on the door of the top5, in my opinion.

RAMY ASHOUR + JAMES WILLSTROP + USA = MASTERPIECES FOR THE AGES

Well, if there had been only that extraordinary triple-fake by James Willstrop at 6:10, matchball down in the fourth game, this match would already feature in the history books. But just two rallies earlier, at 03:49 in the below video, there was the sauciest nonchalant shot ever, by Ramy Ashour of course. And about a dozen of another incredibly skilful solutions executed with casual ease. James and Ramy have a long story together, and for some reason they almost always take squash to an extraterrestrial level when they play in the USA. You know the 2011 masterpiece at the TOC in New York, or even some of their earlier TOC matches, but I consider a masterpiece even last year's North American Final where James Willstrop demonstrated that IT IS possible to contain Ramy Ashour, it is just god-dam rare as you probably need to consult the gods to achieve it the night before the match.

THE EXTRAORDINARY TRIPLE FAKE by JAMES WILLSTROP

Even though considering the whole match, Ramy Ashour created another masterpiece against James Willstrop in the semi-final of the 2013 North American Open, finally it's Willstrop's turn to drive Ramy crazy and make him feel what it means to get a massive "taxi". In some way, James can praise himself of revenging virtually also the majestic double fake that Amr Shabana inflected to him a few months ago at the Queens club in London. All in all, I think it's just fair that for once, and even if for just a couple of seconds, James Willstrop produces more flair than Ramy. He deserves it as he deserves the standing ovation.