Reigning 2 time champ Rahber who was unable to defend his title last year will be fighting for his 3rd title. (In 2021 no champ was crowned when championship match was abandoned) Rahber’s description about the tight 7-6, 7-6 win:

A battle for both of us as neither of us were playing particularly well but we’re doing what we could to make points. My serve and backhand were not working and Raja was misfiring on his massive forehand. Rallies were decent length but we weren’t going for too much and keeping the ball in play. Raja was devastating off his drop shots – he got 5 in a row at one point and keeping me running hard and out of position. I was mostly winning points by moving the ball around and waiting for a low short ball. 

Raja had me 5-4 in the 1st and was serving for it but I managed to break back and we went into a tiebreaker – a few points made the difference – finally Raja had a drop shot that he missed under some pressure and I made a couple of fast 1st serves.

2nd set was similar battle with neither letting the other person get ahead. Similar structure in the tiebreakers – I was just hoping that Raja might miss under pressure because I was having a hard time finishing points. 

Probably my overhead was my best shot today with lots of decent kills and pressure points.