When this deal came up in an English pairs event, a number of West players fell from grace. Take up the West chair and see if you can do better.
When you double one spade for takeout, North bids two no-trump to show an invitational or better raise in spades. South signs off, but North bids one more for the road.
To start with, what should you lead? Underleading either of your aces would be needlessly risky, but a club might also cost a trick. Given that declarer already knows you are short in trumps, and that he would likely have picked off any honors partner might hold anyway, the safest and best lead is actually your singleton spade.
Declarer takes partner’s spade queen with the king, unblocks the club king, crosses to the spade ace (as you discard a heart), throws a diamond on the club ace and then ruffs a club. Next comes a heart lead. Declarer can scarcely have two singletons, so you play small. The king holds as partner contributes the two. A spade back to hand, partner discarding, is followed by another heart. How should you defend now?
Declarer knows from the bidding that you have the heart ace, so you had better take it before it is extracted from you at an inopportune time, but what next?
It is at this stage that most defenders faltered. They panicked and cashed the diamond ace, but you know that cannot be right. First, declarer, who has shown up with only 7 points so far, must have the diamond king to make up his opening bid. Second, the diamond ace is going nowhere. Even if partner has failed to give count in hearts, declarer does not have enough discard opportunities to get rid of his diamonds. You must therefore defend passively with a heart exit and wait for declarer to play diamonds for you. It is just an overtrick, but that can prove the difference between a top and a bottom at matchpoints scoring.