What a rise from Karim. I read in a written interview with Amr Shabana a while ago (squash360.com) that Karim beats him about 98 times out of 100 in practice matches but that Shabana usually had the edge in Tournaments. Karim has obviously broken through and lifted his competitive game substantially.

It was only 2 months ago that Palmer was the clear favourite at the World Open against Karim. Now he's jumped to No. 1 ahead of Gaultier, Willstrop and Ashour who have been wanting that spot, and been closer, for much longer.

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Karim Darwish takes the big prize by defeating Gregory Gaultier in four games.

What a year for Karim.  He is now surely the No. 1 WR Mens player

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Karim Darwish (EGY) and Gregory Gaultier (FRA) to play the final of the Saudi International.  The comments by the players, and the photos are worth a read. 

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PSAlive have some interesting matches coming up.  Palmer defeated Willstrop in four, though the scores are very close in all games. 

The players to come through the quarters are Palmer, Darwish, Gaultier and Matthews.

Of the eight top seeds, those to crash were Shabana (EG), Ashour (EG), Willstrop (ENG). Lincou (FR).

Will Shabana lose his No. 1 WR to Karim Darwish?

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Palmer had a somewhat similar experience to Nick Matthew against Peter Barker. Nick was 2-0 up, and had match balls in the third but didn't win until right at the end, 15-13 in the fifth. Palmer at least had a convincing win in the final game. Possibly even at the top players lose a bit of momentum when they have a lead. I know I have a bad habbit of losing 4th games when I have a chance to win a match there.

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David Palmer battles to beat El Hindi, after being up two nil.  Obviously Palmer liked the speed and the heat and as it got cool the conditions changed in El Hindi's favour.

“As the match went on it became colder and the ball became deader, which suits him more,” Palmer said.

Palmer now meets James Willstrop.

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Saudi International is getting down to the wire as the top seeds come through.

Check out the full report at www.atcosquash.com the official site for the tournament.

For live streaming go to psalive.tv and there is also a small clip of a really good match too - take a look, and it sure is not just a driving game, but more like the cat chasing the mouse.

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Cameron Pilley (AU) stuns Olli Tuominen (FIN) the 16 seed in the first round.  His next opponent is Gregory Gaultier (FR) the number two seed, so that will be a tough one.

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PSAlive have advised there will be "great quality live streaming coming from Saudi Arabia".. The full tournament package is 25 pound. The winner of this $250k event will receive $37,400 - bravo.

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We had 36ºc for the first day of the Mackay Open a few weeks ago, no aircon and very humid. It is stressful.

Saudi should be a great event, the top 3 players are all in the same half of the draw though.

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