That's quite the reaching. They sparred for less than a page, and when Sidious got tired, he turned his back on Vader as if he was facing a child. If anything it looks like Sid was confident he could take Vader down easily should he try something funny while he is turning his back to him
How is that reaching? They were literally fighting equally lmao. If anything it looked like Palpatine stopped the fight before Vader gained the advantage and realized he could defeat him.
Fighting for a few panels doesn’t imply that they equal. I could say Fisto was equal to Sidious because he managed to deflect 3 blows before he was struck down