Clash of cultures in Masters final

Itll be a battle of contrasting styles as Englishman Nick Matthew attempts to stop the power play of Egyptian Ramy Ashour...

Itll be a battle of contrasting styles as Englishman Nick Matthew attempts to stop the power play of Egyptian Ramy Ashour in the final of the PSA Masters at Bombay Gymkhana on Thursday. Such is the difference in the pace and movements of the two players from the West and the Mid-East respectively that the English-Egyptian final almost resembles the clash of two distinct squash cultures.

On Wednesday,Ramy Ashour beat his senior compatriot Amr Shabana 11-9 13-15 11-8 11-2 rather easily. Matthew was equally clinical in dismissing Englishman Peter Barker.

Its like two different sports the way they play and we do, said Matthew. We play more from the back-court,they play more in the front.

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Matthew,a well-built Yorkshireman with great fitness,will have to contend with Ramys hyper-athletic mode on the court. He jumps a lot,and hits the ball very well. But Ill come with an effective game-plan against him, the fourth seed added.

For the 22-year-old,five years younger than Matthew,the match is not expected to be easy despite his rich vein of form coming into the final. The former world champion,and this years finalist,will be looking to assert his supremacy after losing out on the world title. Against Matthew though,Ramy will have to contend with bursts of surprise kills and a steady hand. They play the straight shots. We have more deception. Its about who breaks the other down, he said.