Dane
Downs West For Toronto Title
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 5 National Squash Academy Open, Toronto,
Canada
Top-seeded Canadian Dane Sharp successfully defended his
National Squash Academy Open title in his home city of Toronto
- but the favourite had to fight off determined resistance from
giant-killer qualifier Colin West before winning the PSA World
Tour Challenger 5 event at the National Squash Academy.
While
Sharp defeated two fellow countrymen in straight games en-route to the
final, unranked West made his breakthrough in the opening round with a
shock dismissal of Australia's No2 seed Scott Arnold.
The
former Harvard student went on to remove two ranked Canadians before
reaching his maiden Tour final.
"Colin
took an excellent start and earned a 10-5 lead in the first game,"
reported event spokesman Michael McCue. "He would go on to hold
nine game balls in total, but eventually Sharp stole the game 16-14.
"In
hindsight this was the key point of the match; Dane earned not only the
crucial 1/0 lead, but also the confidence to win big points later in the
match. West again took a lead in the second, this time 8-4, and once
again Dane was able to work his way back into it with solid defence.
"Going
down 2/0 on two tiebreaks is clearly demoralizing," continued McCue.
"But Colin stayed positive and finally consolidated a lead in the third
to pull one game back. The top seed put an end to this potential
comeback early in the fourth though, and never looked at risk of
losing."
Sharp
won the match 16-14, 12-10, 6-11, 11-4 in 62 minutes.
"So,
Dane impressively defends his title, Colin reaches the final from
qualifying, and all four semi-finalists are Canada; not a bad week for
the NSA and Canadian squash overall," concluded McCue.
1st
round:
[1] Dane Sharp (CAN) bt Luke Butterworth (ENG) 11-4, 11-6,
11-4
Matthew Serediak (CAN) bt [Q] Sehyun Lee (KOR) 9-11, 11-7,
6-11, 11-7, 12-10
[Q] Yuta Fukui (JPN) bt Adrian Dudzicki (CAN) 11-7, 11-7,
11-3
[3] David Letourneau (CAN) bt Cameron Stafford (CAY) 11-6,
11-6, 11-8
[4] Declan James (ENG) bt Micah Franklin (BER) 11-7, 11-6,
14-12
Andrew McDougall (CAN) bt [Q] Eric Dingle (CAN) 11-9,
11-5, 11-5
Michael McCue (CAN) bt Tyler Hamilton (CAN) 11-3, 11-6,
11-7
[Q] Colin West (CAN) bt [2] Scott Arnold (AUS) 9-11, 11-4,
11-6, 14-12
Quarter-finals:
[1] Dane Sharp (CAN) bt Matthew Serediak (CAN) 11-7, 11-3,
11-5
[3] David Letourneau (CAN) bt [Q] Yuta Fukui (JPN) 8-11,
11-7, 12-10, 11-7
Andrew McDougall (CAN) bt [4] Declan James (ENG) 11-7,
11-8, 11-6
[Q] Colin West (CAN) bt Michael McCue (CAN) 9-11, 11-8,
11-4, 11-3
Semi-finals:
[1] Dane Sharp (CAN) bt [3] David Letourneau (CAN) 11-6,
11-8, 11-7 (54m)
[Q] Colin West (CAN) bt Andrew McDougall (CAN) 10-12,
13-11, 11-2, 5-11, 11-5 (82m)
Final:
[1] Dane Sharp (CAN) bt [Q] Colin West (CAN) 16-14, 12-10,
6-11, 11-4 (62m)
|
