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.
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| Trevor Borland (left) and Yvon Provencial (right) hard at work |
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| Nathan getting ready to serve |
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| Here comes the Thunder! |
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| Getting Ready to watch Matthew |
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| Matthew, Nicolas, and Gavin |
Day 3! Here we come.
Ben
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