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Granite Club Open 2013
24-28 Mar, Toronto, Canada, $15k |
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 Sarah-Jane
doubles up
in Toronto
Jessica DiMauro reports
Tonight's excitement started with 7 of the WSA professionals
offering their time to come out and hit with our top kids in our
Players A and B program. The kids loved it! The girls were great,
full of energy and showed the kids a few things about squash!
Many thanks to:
Samantha Teran (Mexico) World #18
Heba El Torky (Egypt) World #30
Amanda Landers-Murphy (New Zealand) World #35
Misaki Kobayashi (Japan) World #37
Lauren Selby (England) World #45
Megan Craig (New Zealand) World #53
and of course Granite pro Sam Cornett!!!! World #33!
The final was amazing. Sarah-Jane Perry was dominant from the
start. Vicky Lust dug deep to close the gap on some of SJ's
early leads, but once the score was tied, Sarah-Jane pulled away
again each time.
Vicky was hoping for some more errors but SJ kept her focus and won
her second WSA title in two weeks. The gallery was packed
with over 80 people and no one left their seat until after the match
was complete.
That's SJ's 7th tour title, 6th since June 2012, and 31 wins
in her last 35 matches!
I can't say enough nice things about the WSA girls. No matter what I
asked them for help with, the response was always yes! They helped
with Sponsor Pro-Am Doubles, hitting with our Top Kids, reffing when
I asked, socializing with the members, creating an atmosphere in the
squash lounge that could only occur during an international event
like this.
The ladies were professional and supportive and all out of the
goodness of their hearts. I hope we can start our fundraising early
for next year so we can continue to grow this tournament, keep the
top players coming back and keep supporting these hard-working
athletes!
Jessica DiMauro
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  Granite
Club Open 2013
24-28 Mar, Toronto, Canada, $15k |
Round One
25 Mar |
Quarters
26 Mar |
Semis
27 Mar |
Final
28 Mar |
[1] Samantha Teran (Mex)
11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8
Melody Francis (Aus) |
[1] Samantha Teran
11-7, 11-6, 11-4
[7] Misaki Kobayashi |
[7] Misaki Kobayashi
11-6, 11-7, 11-7
Victoria Lust |
Victoria Lust
11-8, 11-7, 11-5
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry |
[7] Misaki Kobayashi (Jpn)
10-12, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7
[Q] Olivia Blatchford (Usa) |
[4] Heba El Torky (Egy)
11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5
Megan Craig (Nzl) |
[4] Heba El Torky
11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-5
Victoria Lust |
[5] Sam Cornett (Can)
11-8, 11-8, 11-8
Victoria Lust (Eng) |
[Q] Cyrielle Peltier (Fra)
11-3, 11-9, 13-11
[6] Amanda Landers-Murphy (Nzl) |
[6] Amanda Landers-Murphy
11-9, 11-8, 11-7
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry |
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry
11-9, 11-4, 11-8
[2] Sarah Kippax |
[Q] Sabrina Sobhy (Usa)
11-8, 11-8, 11-7
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) |
[Q] Lotte Eriksen (Nor)
8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-8
[8] Lauren Selby (Eng) |
[8] Lauren Selby
11-5, 11-6, 11-4
[2] Sarah Kippax |
Nikki Todd (Can)
12-10, 11-3, 11-9
[2] Sarah Kippax (Eng) |
24
Mar, Qualifying Finals:
Lotte Eriksen (Nor) 3-2 Nayelly Henandez (Mex)
9/11, 11/6, 11/7, 5/11, 11/5
Cyrielle Peltier (Fra) 3-2 Alexandra Norman (Can)
8/11, 14/12, 12/10, 2/11, 12/10
Olivia Blatchford (Usa) 3-2 Leonie Holt (Eng)
9/11, 11/9, 10/12, 11/9, 11/9
Sabrina Sobhy (Usa) 3-2 Thaisa Serafini (Bra)
11/6, 7/11, 8/11, 11/3, 12/10
24 Mar, Qualifying Round 1:
Lotte Eriksen (Nor) 3-0 Seanna Keating (Can)
11/4, 11/4, 11/6
Nayelly Henandez (Mex) 3-1 Alix Younger (Can)
11/9, 12/10, 9/11, 11/7
Alexandra Norman (Can) 3-0 Alison Richmond (Can)
11/4, 11/4, 11/5
Cyrielle Peltier (Fra) 3-1 Stephanie Edmison (Can)
12/10, 8/11, 11/7, 11/7
Leonie Holt (Eng) 3-1 Ivonne Diaz (Mex)
11/2, 11/4, 7/11, 11/4
Olivia Blatchford (Usa) 3-0 Madlen O'Connor (Can)
11/4, 11/0, 11/6
Sabrina Sobhy (Usa) 3-1 Hollie Naughton (Can)
11/6, 9/11, 11/3, 11/3
Thaisa Serafini (Bra) 3-0 Antonella Falcione (Arg)
11/1, 11/4, 11/5
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It's
an all-English final
in Toronto
Jessica DiMauro reports
The Granite Open started with the #18, #20, #26, #30 and #33 player
in the world as the top 5 seeds.
Victoria Lust knocked out seed after seed to make it to the
semi-finals tonight. Tonight was no different as she continued her
fast pace, quick moving, amazing retrieving game and paired that
with some great counter-drops both straight and cross to keep
Misaki Kobayashi going the wrong direction.
MIsaki dug deep, trying to battle through a cold, and got to early
leads in the second and third games. Victoria kept plugging away and
got herself back into each game to win the contest 3-0. She
continues to step her game up each time I see her.
It doesn't seem like Sarah-Jane Perry can be stopped right
now. She had a great week last week, winning the Mayfair Open as the
third seed. Tonight she knocked out the #2 seed, Sarah Kippax
3-0 to put herself in the finals for the second straight week. SJ's
holds and deception left Sarah and the crowd guessing.
Sarah-Jane paired that with some amazing defensive lobs to get her
out of trouble when Kippax pushed SJ to the front. The pace was
higher in this match than in SJ's previous rounds but she still
managed to keep control of the middle and earn herself a spot in
tomorrow's final.
The crowd is loving the matches. Even with all of our home hopes out
of the tournament, the seats are packed and the atmosphere is
terrific.
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Quarter-finals
in Toronto
 Japan's
Misaki Kobayashi recorded the best win of her career in the
opening quarter-final at the Granite Club in Toronto, beating top
seed and world number 18 Samantha Teran in straight games.
"Waited for this moment. Yipeeeeeeeee!" tweeted the 23-year-old
world #37.
Kobayashi, the seventh seed, will face unseeded Victoria Lust
for a place in the final after the Englishwoman took out a second
successive seeded opponent with a 3-1 win over Heba El Torky.
Quarter-final night at the Granite Open
Jessica DiMauro reports
We started off the evening with 2 hours of Pro-Am Hardball Doubles.
Eight sponsors, paired with 8 of the Women played in two round robin
pools. It was great! Lots of squash, lots of laughs and no one got
hit! We have two more hours of Pro-Am Doubles tomorrow and everyone
seems to be looking forward to it!
Tonight's Pro matches started with Misaki Kobayashi playing where
she could do no wrong. Great patience, nice pace changes and
decisive offensive boasts and attacking cross-courts pushed Misaki
to a solid 3-0 win over an amazing World #18 Player, Samantha Teran
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In the second quarter final, Victoria Lust was too fast and
too patient for Heba El Torky. Heba played all the way to the
Saturday night final of last week's Mayfair Open, had one day of
rest on Sunday and then won a hard-fought, five-game battle last
night in the first round of the Granite Open against Megan Craig
(New Zealand). When Lust started running Heba around the court
tonight, she had nothing left in the fourth game.
Sarah-Jane Perry had too much control tonight. Amanda Landers-Murphy
put up a great fight and chased down lots of balls but in the end,
SJ's holds and flicks sent Amanda going the wrong way too many
times. Amanda is much stronger, faster and better than she was just
a year ago at this tourny but so is SJ! We look forward to seeing
them again in future Granite Opens. Hopefully we'll keep growing the
prize money to keep this great players coming back :)
In the last game, Sarah Kippax was very strong and was able to
capitalize on the fact that Lotte Eriksen ran poor Lauren Selby
around for five hard games last night. Tonight, Kippax was too
strong for Selby and won 3-0 to set up an all-England semi-final
tomorrow night.
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Cyrielle having a
Moose of a time ... |
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FROGS' TALK - First Round
Marathon qualifiers in Toronto
Jessica DiMauro reports
We had
an unbelievable first day at the 2013 Granite Open. The first round
qualification matches Sunday morning saw 7 Canadians, 3 Granite
members, play some terrific matches.
The evening, final round qualification matches, didn't finish until
10:15pm because EVERY match went to five games! These
girls worked so hard, played fair and thrilled the crowd.
Hope you will be able to make it out Monday night to support Nikki
[Todd] and Sam [Cornett] and to watch all of these amazing athletes
compete in the First Round of the Main Draw.
This is an unbelievable opportunity to see this caliber of
International Professional squash right at the Granite Club.
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