Day 3: April 19th, 2014

Last out of the club and return for the first match if the day!   What could be better than that?

9:00 am Nathan Von Hagen vs Neel Ismail 0-3
Neel is a very accomplished player for a 13 year old player.  He has a strong wrist, smooth movement on court and a professional demeanour on court.  The rallies were competitive but Nathan was not strong enough today to neutralize Neels efficiency.  Nathan is now out of the tournament.

9:35 am Kellan O'Neill vs Liam Waterous 2-3
Liam Waterous and Kellan O'Neill played a hard fought match early in the morning.  This was a battle between Liam's thunderous backhand and Kellan's sliding retrieval.  The game plan was to take the sting out of Liam's shots by engaging him in long rallies (Always a good plan when you are fit).  The plan was working except for the odd unforced error from Kellan.  Otherwise good strong play form Kellan but not the result he wanted to have.  Kellan is not out of the tournament.

Next Up:

3:05pm Matthew Henderson vs Adam Vanwyngaarden  3-0

Another day and another match to go.  This time Matt is feeling better as his nose cold  has cleared up allowing him to breath better.  Adam beat Nicolas the day before but Matt was not going fall to the same fate.  This straight forward match require Matt to take the ball in short after punish his opponent to the back of the court.  Adam was unable to keep up with the pressure.  Tomorrow morning Matt plays Hussam Hamour in the consolation Semi-Final.  

5:30pm Grace Thomas vs Tara Shannon 0-3

Grace was on the bike, loosening up her legs, swinging her racquet before stepping onto the court for the Girls U 17 Semi-Final.  During the warm-up Tara pounded the ball crisply cutting it into the corner of the court.  During the first game Tara come out early but Grace fought back and evened up the game around 4 all.  Thing went back and forth for the next 3 points to 7 All.  After which Tara sprinted to the end of the game 11-7.  In the 2 second game Grace found the back of the court on Tara’s Forehand side.  She ripped the ball into the corner and grabbed herself an 8-4 lead.  But to no avail as Tara fought back and levelling the game at 8 all, then finishing the game 11-8.  In the third both players shared point but Tara maintained a 2 point lead.  Tara worked up to 10-7 match ball.  Grace needed to fight 3 match balls to have a chance to take the game to a 4th.  she was able to fight the first 2 match balls but Tara found a winning ball low and fast out of grace’s reach on the back hand side.  Match 3-0 for Tara.  Tomorrow Grace will play Hanna Blatt for the 3/4 position.

After the matches it was time to eat!  Have you heard of Frankie’s?  Italian all you can eat buffet.  Wednesday after practice, a couple of the kids ventured across the street to have lunch at Frankie’s.  When they came back they were crazed with excitement.  Raving about the Italian buffet.  By Friday everyone at the tournament would look at each other, smile and we knew there would be a time to meet at Frankie’s. Where food is plentiful and everyone is smiles.  

So what is so special about Frankie’s?  I keep describing it as a place where buffet meets 5 star italian resort!  As you walk down a narrow twisting italian designed street there are food stations to your left and right.  People wander with plate in hand trying to decide what to eat next!  There first station is the cold salads, directly opposite the garlic bread station (by far the best garlic bread), then pizza, dessert, gelato, chicken and beef, Pastas, and on down an italian street everyone filling their plate till it over flows.  

When you walk out you of Frankie’s you have gone some where special and feel satisfied.

Thank you
Benjamin Uliana

Day 2 - April 18th, 2014

Its is 11:30pm and I am just sitting down to write todays post.  Yes we were the last match of the day, yes we had to go out on good Friday and find the only open restaurant, Tim Horton's.  Although we are back in the hotel room and lining up for the showers.  John Dempsey has brought over a basket of Easter Candy and all is good...Back to the Blog and our matches...

10:45am Nathan Von Hagen vs Quinton Anderson 3-0

4:50pm Nathan Von Hagen vs Michael Greenwood 3-0

Nathan started the day in the consolation draws.  Fortunately for Nathan he would have a couple easy matches.  Both matches provided Nathan an opportunity to build his confidence in his game and get ready for a tougher haul on Day 3.

1:30pm Grace Thomas vs Charlotte Choppas 3-1

48 hours after arriving in Toronto, Grace finally stepped on court for her 2nd match.  This time it was Charlotte Copas.  In the first Grace was a bit tentative but forced more errors out of her opponent than she made.  The Second game Grace flicked the ball around the court and found herself losing 11-2 before she knew what had happened.  In the usual Grace fashion she came back and dominated the last 2 games using basic length and strength.  The shot of the match was a rolling nick on game ball in the third.  Tomorrow Grace will play in the Semi-Finals.  Keep an eye on our Twitter or Facebook page for an announcement of the live stream. 

2:15pm Kellan O'Neill vs Julien Gosset 0-3

Day 2 and 2nd match for Kellan, this time against the second seed, Julien Gosset.  The match was a 0-3 loss for Kellan but each of the games were tight and Kellan played some of the best squash I've seen from him in a while.  On the flip side I was not impressed with Julien's aloof attitude on court but was impressed with Kellan demeanour in the face of defeat. Tomorrow will be a big day for Kellan.  3 match and 3 wins will put him in the top 8.

2:50pm Nicolas Vincent vs Mateo Bultrago 3-1

6:00pm Nicolas Vincent vs Adam Vanwyngaarden 0-3

Nicolas had two matches today.  One hot and the other cold.  Vincent punished his opponent and ran him around the court till he submitted easily in the 4th.  Stepping on court for his second match Nicolas had a string of errors and could not pull it back together.  Front wall nicks resulting in strokes, and Adam's volley kept Nick from building any momentum in the match

2:15pm Matthew Henderson vs Michael Mehl (3/4) 3-1

8:40pm Matthew Henderson vs Brett Schille 1-3

Stars today go to Matthew Henderson.   Heading into his first match of the day (a nice reasonable 2:15pm) Matt met up with the 3/4 seed in the tournament.  Unfortunately the first game slipped away 11-6 with Matt trying to match Mehl's crazy angles.  In the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Matt confined Mehl with penetrating length, and yes a winning reverse boast on game ball.  By no means were the games blowouts but Mehl was visibly upset, receiving 2 conduct strokes for unsportsmanlike behaviour.  The last 4 games were won by Matt with 2 point gaps each time (11-9, 14-12, 13-11)

For the last match of the day, we had Matt Henderson and Brett Schille.  Starting at 9:20pm and running till 10:10pm this 4 game match had drama and tension.  The first 2 games, Matt held the first two games, neck and neck, but was too involved with the referees calls.  He was playing well he just couldn't finish.  In the 3rd game Matt started to keep the ball on the front wall, retrieved like a dog and got game ball 10-7 over Schille.  Schille evened it up 10-10 and the crowd was getting tense, but Matt wanted it more and at 12-12 put in the craziest shooting rally ever, eventually claiming the game 14-12.  In the 4th thing were so intense that when the referee played a let on one of Matt's retrieves that the audience groaned, Nicolas couldn't handle it and jumped up and screamed in shock!  In extra points the rallies were intense but Matt was not able not find the right bounces and Schille moved into the Semi-Finals.  Tomorrow Matt will have 1 match to get into the top 8.

Trevor Borland (left) and Yvon Provencial (right) hard at work

Nathan getting ready to serve

Here comes the Thunder!

Getting Ready to watch Matthew

Matthew, Nicolas, and Gavin

Day 3!  Here we come.

Ben