14/12, 11/5, 5/11, 8/11, 11/3 (91m)

[7] Jan Koukal

11/9, 11/6, 11/5 (60m)
 

[4] Raphael Kandra

6/11, 11/6, 0/11, 11/4, 11/5 (66m)

[2] Martin Knight

22-Jan, Qualifying Finals:

Graeme Schnell (Can) 3-1 Benjamin Fischer (Sui)    11/5, 11/5, 9/11, 11/2
James Huang (Tpe) 3-0 Micah Franklin (Ber)                     11/2, 11/8, 11/4
Michael Harris (Eng) 3-0 Tyler Hamilton (Can)                  11/9, 11/5, 11/3
Reiko Peter (Cze) 3-0 Will John (Wal)                              11/6, 11/3, 11/8

22-Jan, Qualifying Round One

Graeme Schnell (Can) bt Marwan Abdelnaby Mahmoud (Egy) 11/8, 12/10, 11/7 (53m)
Micah Franklin (Ber) bt Ben Coates (Eng)                               11/6, 11/5, 11/5 (26m)
Tyler Hamilton (Can) bt Bradbury Thompson (Usa)                 11/4, 11/4, 11/8 (23m)
Will John (Wal) bt Tristan Eyselle (Eng)                         7/11, 11/7, 11/9, 11/4 (44m)

Same again in Calgary semis
Bob Ballinger reports

Two electric semi finals here at the Bankers Hall Club Pro Am have produced a repeat of last years final.

Before a truly jam packed audience top seed and defending champion Leo Au held off the comeback attempt of Jan Koukal in a tremendous 91 minute match. Au played a flawless final game and despite that final game score line it was just as impressive from Koukal who did not do much wrong it was just that Au was oh so accurate.

The other semi saw last years finalist from Germany Raphael Kandra come from a 2-1 games deficit to knock out Martin Knight the second seed here. Knight went up 4-0 in the final game but Kandra pegged off nine straight points to eventually gain the victory.

It promises to be a great final here in Calgary!

Down to the semis in Calgary
Bob Ballinger reports

Defending champion and top seed Leo Au secured his place in the semi finals of the Bankers Hall Club Pro Am by holding off #5 seed Rex Hedrick in a great display of squash in four long games.

The only close game via the score line was the final one and in fact Hedrick had two chances at game ball to send it to a fifth only be denied by Au.

The other lunchtime semi final saw second seed Martin Knight win quite convincingly over unseeded James Huang in three straight games. Knight’s combination of steadiness as well as perhaps experience were in fine display in this match.

A very electric atmosphere at Bankers Hall Club in the evening session for the final two quarter final matches.

First up was the much anticipated match between Jan Koukal and Andrew Schnell. Koukal has been pretty much a regular at this event from the early years while Schnell is from the host city and was hoping to continue a 3 year streak of sorts that has seen himself and brother Graeme oust Koukal the last two years of this tournament.

But the so called Family Streak is over as Koukal played a flawless match in this straight games victory over the local star in an entertaining three game match.

Next up was last years finalist Raphael Kandra up against Spaniard Alejandro Garbi who really was a bit of unknown for the local squash fans here.

Looked like it would be a routine victory for the #4 seeded Kandra but suddenly the passionate Spanish player had a 2-1 edge in games and had a large part of the packed crowd on his side with the hopes he could produce a second successive upset victory.

Yet the strong and steady German settled himself and closed out the last two games to gain a semi final berth on Saturday.

So......two great looking semis coming up. Defending champ Leo Au and Jan Koukal on one side with Raphael Kandra going up against number two see Martin Knight.

Both matches promise to be great squash here in the Stampede city of Calgary! 

First round evening session:
Bob Ballinger reports

The first big upset of the tournament occurred Thursday night at the Bankers Hall Club Pro Am in Calgary and it was a popular one as local Calgarian Andrew Schnell took out the #3 seed Charles Sharpes in straight games.

Not much separated these two through the first two closely contested games and it looked to be clear sailing for Schnell in the third as he got out to a 6-1 lead only to see Sharpes peg his way slowly back only to fall short at the end.

English fortunes were not so good on this night Alex Ingham went down to the strong play of last years finalist here at the Pro Am, German Raphael Kandra in straight games. Spanish player Alejandro Garbi Caro produced another English loss and an upset at that as he took out Ben Coleman in four games.

Local Canadian wild card David Letourneau went down to Czech star Jan Koukal in straight games. After a one sided first game for Koukal the next two were highly entertaining with many game balls for Letourneau in each of those games which was unlucky he could not convert on any of them. With that win it sets up a very exciting match for Koukal against Schnell. Two years ago here Koukal went down to Andrew in a huge match and then last year it was brother Graeme Schnell who took out Koukal in another epic match.

Should be another great day of squash into the quarter finals!

And At Lunch Time...

The lunchtime session of the 1st round of the Main Draw produced two thrilling five game matches of which one saw the top ranked Canadian player in the draw go down to defeat.

Dane Sharp seeded #8 lost a hard fought match to the very impressive James Huang in a real see saw affair. Also going down was local Canadian qualifier Graeme Schnell who was dismissed by New Zealand veteran Martin Knight in three straight games.

The other five game match saw a near upset but #5 seed Rex Hedrick was able to recover from a two games to one deficit and a 9-5 hole to bounce back and win in five games over Swiss qualifier Reiko Peter.

The other match of the session saw defending champion and top seed Leo Au of Hong Kong hold off Michael Harris in a very competitive three game match.

Its onto the evening session with four matches that should no doubt produce some more great squash. 
 

Under way in Calgary
Bob Ballinger reports

The first round of qualifying of the 2014 Bankers Hall Club Pro Am is now complete with local interest and Canadian interest still alive.

Local Calgarian Graeme Schnell who has had great results in this tournament in the past, got by his younger error prone opponent Marwan Abdelnaby Mahmoud of Egypt in a fairly lengthy straight games win. He will now advance to face the #4 ranked qualifier Benjamin Fischer of Switzerland.

Canadian Tyler Hamilton also progressed with a fairly routine straight games win over Bradbury Thompson of the USA. Also in a routine straight games victory was Bermuda’s Micah Franklin taking out Ben Coates of England. The only upset on day one saw Welshman Will John drop the first game but then took the next three games and a victory over England’s Tristan Eyselle.

Final round of the PSA qualifying goes tonight as well as the start of the amateur divisions in this long time running event. A total of 160 entrants are in the amateur events and they registered back on December 6th in a record two and half hours!

2013 Event | 2012 Event | 2011 Event | 2010 Event