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06-Mar, Final:
LJ cruises to Midtown title
Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema launched
his 2010 PSA campaign in fine style in Canada where he won the
National Bank Financial Group International after beating England's
Daryl Selby in straight games in the final.
After surviving a 96-minute quarter-final against lower-ranked
Englishman Tom Richards, third seed Anjema made his breakthrough in
the next round where he upset second seed Adrian Grant, the world
No10, also from England.
And the 27-year-old from The Hague continued his dominant form
against Englishmen in the final with Selby, the fourth seed from
Essex who is ranked three places above Anjema in the world rankings.
The world No15 got the better of Selby in the first two close games,
then raced to victory for the loss of just a single further point as
he triumphed in 65 minutes.
The win follows Anjema's fifth successive Dutch National title
success in February – and takes the left-hander's PSA title tally to
nine since his first in October 2002. |
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Photos by Matthew Hood |
  NBF
International 2010
01-06 Mar, Montreal,
Canada, $40k |
Round One
03 Mar |
Quarters
04 Mar |
Semis
05 Mar |
Final
06 Mar |
[1] Peter Barker (Eng)
7-11,13-11,11-9,11-6 (63m)
[Q] Gilly Lane (Usa) |
[Q] Gilly Lane
11-6, 11-3, 11-9 (45m)
[7] Shahier Razik |
[7] Shahier Razik
11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 11-5 (88m
[4] Daryl Selby |
[4] Daryl Selby
11-9,11-8,11-1 (65m)
[3] Laurens Jan Anjema |
[7] Shahier Razik (Can)
6-11,11-7,11-5,14-12 (75m)
Simon Rosner (Ger) |
[4] Daryl Selby (Eng)
11-5,11-3,11-7 (27m)
Maxym Leclair (Can) |
[4] Daryl Selby
6-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-2 (54m)
[5] Olli Tuominen |
[5] Olli Tuominen (Fin)
5-11,7-11,11-9,11-2,11-3 (60m)
[Q] Campbell Grayson (Nzl) |
Martin Knight (Nzl)
11-5,11-5,11-3 (50m)
[8] Tom Richards (Eng) |
[8] Tom Richards
11-4, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8 (96m)
[3] Laurens Jan Anjema |
[3] Laurens Jan Anjema
11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6 (72m)
[2] Adrian Grant |
Rafael Alarcon (Bra)
11-4,11-7,11-8 (46m)
[3] Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) |
[Q] Scott Arnold (Aus)
11-9,4-11,10-12,11-9,16-14 (86m)
[6] Hisham Ashour (Egy) |
[Q] Scott Arnold
11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (46m)
[2] Adrian Grant |
[Q] Shawn Delierre (Can)
16-14,11-5,12-14,11-4 (87m)
[2] Adrian Grant (Eng) |
02 Mar,
Qualifying Finals:
Campbell Grayson bt David
Phillips
11-2,12-10,11-2 (44m)
Scott Arnold bt Ryan Cuskelly
6-11,11-6,6-3 rtd (50m)
Gilly Lane bt Robbie Temple
10-12,8-11,11-5,11-5,11-8 (88m)
Shawn Delierre bt Eric Galvez
12-10,11-4,11-6
01 Mar, Qualifying Round One
Robbie Temple beat Clinton Leeuw
5-11,11-6,11-6,11,6 50 mins
Gilly Lane beat Dane Sharp
11-6,11-9,11-4 38 mins
Campbell Grayson beat Eddie Charlton
9-11,11-5,11-8,11-5 56 mins
Scott Arnold beat Adil Maqbool
11-9,11-7,8-11,11-9 41 mins
Ryan Cuskelly beat Maxime Blouin
11-4,11-8,11-6 32 mins
Shawn Delierre beat Robin Clarke
9-11,7-11,11-5,11-3,11-4 75 mins
Eric Galvez beat Adrian Dudzicki
11-2,11-3,11-4 26 mins
David Phillips beat Michal Reid
11-6,11-4,11-3 34 mins
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05-Mar, Semis:
Daryl & LJ in Midtown final
Two marathon semi-finals at the Midtown
Le Sporting Club Sanctuaire saw England's Daryl Selby end
local interest as he beat Shahier Razik, while Dutch third seed
Laurens Jan Anjema overcame Adrian Grant, both winning in
four games.
Selby secured the 12th PSA final appearance of his career – and
his second in Canada this year – after beating Razik 11-8, 11-4,
7-11, 11-5.
Fresh winning his fifth successive Dutch national title in
Amsterdam, world number 15 Anjema battled for 72 minutes to upset
second seed Grant 11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6. It was the 27-year-old
from The Hague's first win over London Grant, the world No10, in
five meetings since 2003.
The win takes Anjema to his 22nd Tour final.
04-Mar, Quarters:
Razik ends Lane run
Normal order was
restored in the quarter-finals in Montreal as home favourite Shahier
Razik put a stop to the rin of Gill Lane after the American's
sensational win over top seed Peter Barker yesterday.
Razik prevailed in straight games and now meets fourth seed Daryl
Selby for a place in the final.
An Englishman features in the other semi-final too as second seed
Adrian Grant despatched qualifier Scott Arnold in straight games.
His opponent will be the Netherlands' third seed Laurens Jan Anjema,
who survived a gruelling five-setter to edge out Tom Richards. |
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03-Mar, Round One:
Lane takes out top seed in
Montreal
 In what he described
as the "biggest win of my career", US qualifier Gilly Lane defeated
top-seeded Englishman Peter Barker in the opening round of the
National Bank Financial Group International in Canada to claim an
unexpected place in the quarter-finals at Midtown Le Sporting Club Sanctuaire in Montreal.
It was only 24 hours earlier that the US number two from
Philadelphia battled back from two games down to beat another
Englishman Robbie Temple in an 88-minute marathon to earn his place
in the main draw.
But Lane, the 24-year-old world No 59, recovered from a game down to
beat Barker - the world No7 from London who won his first PSA Tour
title in Canada - 7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-6 in 63 minutes.
Lane now lines up against local hero Shahier Razik, the seventh seed
from Toronto who also had to overcome a first game deficit to beat
unseeded German Simon Rosner 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 14-12 in a 75-minute
first round encounter.
But Lane was not the only qualifier
to make the last eight: Australian Scott Arnold, who survived two
qualifying rounds, fought for 86 minutes to get the better of sixth
seed Hisham Ashour, ultimately edging through in a lengthy
fifth-game tie-break to beat the Egyptian 9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 9-11,
16-14.
The Sydney-born 24-year-old now faces Adrian Grant, the second seed
from England who was stretched to four games over 87 minutes before
finally despatching Canadian qualifier Shawn Delierre 16-14, 11-5,
12-14, 11-4. |
 "It
was just a very hard fought win. The court is very bouncy and I was
just trying to stick in and play solid squash. Peter's game is
something that I try to aspire to so I think I had that in the back
of my mind to keep pushing as much as I did.
"I have been working really hard lately and I'm really pleased with
this win. It is definitely the best win of my squash career."
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02-Mar, Qualifying Finals:
Delierre advances in Montreal
Louis Daignault reports
Shawn Delierre of Brossard, Que., in his first tournament since last
October, advanced to the main draw Tuesday at the $40,000 National
Bank Financial Group men’s professional squash tournament.
The tournament being held at the recently renovated Midtown le
Sporting Club du Sanctuaire, is a stop on both the Canadian Circuit
and the Professional Squash Association tour.
Delierre, who opened the qualifying round Monday with a come from
behind five-game victory over Robin Clarke of Ottawa, defeated Eric
Galvez of Mexico 12-10, 11-4, 11-6. Last fall, Delierre underwent
leg surgery.
“I’m pleased with what I’ve accomplished so far but I’m not totally
where I want to be,” said Delierre, 27, a two-time world
championship team member.
He said the turning point in the match was overcoming a 7-10 deficit
in the first game.
“I was pretty lucky to win that one,” Delierre said. “But I used
that to my advantage for the rest of the match. I hit better lengths
and controlled the match.”
David Phillips of Pointe-Claire, Que., was eliminated losing to
Campbell Grayson of New Zealand 11-2, 12-10, 11-2.
Delierre joins Canadian number-one and world number-32 Shahier Razik
of Toronto and Maxym Leclair of Montreal in the main draw which
starts Wednesday. Delierre opens against second-seed Adrian Grant of
England, currently ranked 10th in the world.
Razik, seeded seventh, opens against Simon Rosner of Germany while
Leclair faces fourth-seed Daryl Selby of England who climbed from
15th to 12th in the world rankings announced Monday. The top-seed is
Peter Barker of England ranked seventh internationally.
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01-Mar, Qualifying Round One:
Under way in Montreal
Maxym Leclair reports
It was a busy day at Midtown Sanctuaire for the 1st Qualifying Round
of the National Bank Financial Group International Squash
Tournament, 8 matches beginning at 2pm and ending at around 10pm.
We saw some good battles in this first round beginning with Robbie
Temple and Clinton Leeuw. Robbie started strong in the opening game
with a 3-0 lead but Clinton managed to get 8 points in a row and
take the first game 11-3. In the second game it was looking like
Clinton was going to take a 2-0 lead when he was 5-2 up but Robbie
started to play good patient squash and took the 2nd 11-6.
The third game looked pretty weird on the scoring sheet as Robbie
took the first 4 points but then the South-African refocused and
took a 6-4 lead but Robbie came from behind to close it 11-6. Last
game was pretty short with a 11-6 for Robbie.
 Campbell
Grayson, with his small Kiwi crowd composed of Martin Knight, Joelle
King and Glen Wilson got a good win over Eddie Charlton after
loosing the opening game.
Good long rallies in this match that the crowd seems to appreciate a
lot.
The draw was unlucky today as we saw Shawn Delierre playing Robin
Clarke and David Phillips facing Michal Reid. However, on paper,
Delierre and Clarke was certainly the match of the night, Shawn is
currently trying to make a return to the circuit after a injury and
Robin is having some good results recently. The crowd was not
disappointed with a five setter. Robin took a 2-0 lead but Shawn
came strong in the third and completely changed the momentum to take
the last two pretty easily.
 In
his second PSA tournament, the youngest player of the tournament and
local boys, Maxime Blouin had a strong opponent in Ryan Cuskelly.
However Maxime did pretty well but Ryan managed to cut-off all the
loose balls thrown by the Montrealer and take a spot in the final
qualifying round.
Play resumes at 5pm on Tuesday.
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Sanctuaire ready for 2010
Montréal, QC. From March 1st to the 6th, the recently renovated
Midtown le Sporting Club du Sanctuaire will be host to the
biggest squash tournament ever to be held in Montreal as the world's
best will be competing in the 40 000$ USD National Bank Financial
Group International.
Twenty-eight players from 13 countries - including England, Egypt,
Australia, the United States and South Africa - will be showcasing
their talent against Englishmen top seeds Peter Barker (world
#7) and Adrian Grant (#10), as well as many top 30 players
and Canadian star Shahier Razik.
Local elite players will also by fighting for a place in the main
draw.
Last year's edition was won by another Englishman, Alister Walker,
who defeated Razik in the final.
Thanks to the participation of National Bank Financial Group, the
tournament has gained even more in prestige and now ranks amongst
the major events on the pro circuit.
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