TTC Tournament

 

Henderson vs. Mill

   What a weekend of squash!  130 people participated in the tournament including many out of town players.  The weekend started with the traditional 50/50 draw for the B division.  Entries flooded in and in the end 68 entries were collected.  That meant $340 for one lucky person.  Friday saw many tight matches and a few upsets but for the most part, all the seeds moved on.
     Saturday began bright and early and staying out late Friday night didn't seem to affect most players.  I think this weekend set a tournament record for game 5s, and there were some epic matches.  Luca Dalla Bona was able to recover from a mid-match injury to force Brad Steele into a 5th game.  Game 5 remained tight the entire way.  Luca's retrieving led to long rallies and as the match neared its end, neither Brad nor Luca were interested in risky shot-making.  This led to some of the longest rallies of the weekend.  In the end, Brad Steele was able to hang on for a 13-11 win in game 5.
    In the B draw, Sara Khan battled it out with Andrew Garant.  Andrew returned to the squash scene after a 2 year absence and his style of game hasn't changed.  He chased every ball down, diving all over the court.  This match had big consequences for the 50/50 draw as many people had both of these players winning it all.  However, Andrew's retrieving eventually got the best of Sara in another game 5 extra points win.
     On the other side of the B draw it was the opposite styles of Dean Lansens vs. Usman Khan.  Dean is well-known for his shooting ability while Usman is well-known for his retrieving ability.  This made for a long match that came down to the final points of game 5.  At 11-10, Dean was able to hit one last winner to knock Usman into the consolation draw.  By the end of the matches on Saturday, many brackets were busted.

Open Final

     Sunday started early again.  However, back-to-back late nights out began to show.  Amin Khan and Dan Van Morsel battled it out in the semis of the A and Amin was determined to run Dan around.  Dan however wasn't interested in running and shot the lights out, winning 3-1.  Andrew and Dean met in the semi's with heavy 50/50 implications.  Dean ran Andrew all around the court and had him diving after many balls.  However, Andrew's retrieving got the best of Dean.  On the other side of the B draw, unknown Gabe Boldt from London defeated WSF legend Anis Khan.  This had major implications for the 50/50 draw.  Lee Bissonnette from London had 33 points and had Gabe winning.  Graeme Williams (definitely had insider info) had 33 points and Andrew winning.  Gabe let Andrew run all over the court and just played steady squash, winning 3-1 and helping Lee win $340 for the weekend.
     Doubles matches were close all weekend.  But it seemed liked every doubles match on Sunday was a 5 gamer, causing the doubles court to run way behind.  Rallies were long and points were hard to come by.

A Doubles- Hanebury/Uffleman
B Doubles- Porter/Lansens
Mixed Doubles- Berling/Siedel
Women's Doubles- Guthrie/Elliott

     The Open draw may have been the strongest Open draw we have had thanks to the Western Squash Team.  In the end it was Western #1(David Mill) vs. Western #2(Matt Henderson).  The match saw incredible retrieving ability and great shot-making.  Mill went up 2-0 and had numerous match balls but could not close out the match.  This opened the door for Henderson who won the next two games.  Game 5 was tight and no player could pull away from the other.  Henderson got hot for the last 2 points and finished the match with an impressive cross- court nick.
   
Open- Matt Henderson
Men's A- Paul Gabrael
Men's B- Gabe Boldt
Men's C- Ryan Macvoy
Men's D- Adam Kilner

     WSF juniors were all over the draws.  Some opted to not play in the junior draws and compete in the main rounds.  Their impact was felt throughout all the draws.  Some even showed some promise in the doubles draws.  Vishaal Mehta continues his great season with a win in this tournament.  However, the match of the draw goes to Carter Furmanek and Gavin Chamandy.  At no point were they separated by more than a couple of points.  Extra points was painful to watch as both players deserved a victory.  However, Carter was able to edge Gavin out in the end.  Watching these players rally showed just how good our juniors are.

Complete draws can be found here
50/50 Bracket Challenge can be found here.