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13th Saskatoon Boast 2013
21-24 Nov, Saskatoon, Canada, $10k |
24-Nov, Final:
Fathi takes Saskatoon title
Brad Birnie reports
A packed house saw Karim Ali Fathi become the first Egyptian
to win the Saskatoon Boast by taking Martin Knight in four
games. Both players displayed exceptional sportsmanship with very
few lets, yet still grinding hard throughout the match.
Ali Fathi certainly had the advantage in being able to hit more
winners especially numerous backhand drives into the nick. After
taking the first game handily, the tide seemed to turn as Fathi made
more mistakes with Knight taking the second.
The crucial third game had Knight earning his way to game ball at
10-6. Ali Fathi came back from a seemingly hopeless situation and
battled hard in winning the next 6 points to go to extras and
finally winning 12-10. It took it's toll, however, as both players
were gassed.
After a 16-min. break to have Ali Fathi treat and bandage a cut on
his knee, both players looked energized for the fourth. With Knight
serving at 5-6, the players alternated every point after that, with
Ali Fathi claiming the title at 11-9 in the fourth.
There was much rejoicing as Karim collected his third PSA title in
two months, his eighth overall.
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  13th Saskatoon
Boast 2013
21-24 Oct, Saskatoon, Canada, $10k |
Round One
21 Nov |
Quarters
22 Nov |
Semis
23 Nov |
Final
24 Nov |
[1] Karim Ali Fathi (Egy)
11-4, 4-11, 11-7, 11-7(65m)
Carlos Cornes (Esp) |
[1] Karim Ali Fathi
11-1, 11-4, 11-6 (33m)
Matthew Serediak |
[1] Karim Ali Fathi
11-8, 11-9, 11-4 (37m)
[4] Dane Sharp |
8th PSA title for
Karim [1] Karim Ali Fathi
11-4, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9 (102m)
[2] Martin Knight |
Matthew Serediak (Can)
11-5, 11-5, 11-8 (35m)
David Letourneau (Can) |
Mike McCue (Can)
11-7, 11-3, 11-5 (31m)
Mike Harris (Eng) |
Mike Harris
8-11, 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-1 (86m)
[4] Dane Sharp |
Abdulla Al Tamimi (Qat)
11-8, 8-11, 15-13, 12-10 (60m)
[4] Dane Sharp (Can) |
[3] Farhan Zaman (Pak)
11-6, 11-8, 11-5 (30m)
Steve London (Eng) |
[3] Farhan Zaman
11-9, 11-8, 10-12, 11-6 (49m)
Eric Galvez |
Eric Galvez
11-8, 11-9, 11-5 44
[2] Martin Knight |
Eric Galvez (Mex)
11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6 (71m)
Justin Beard (Aus) |
Andrew Schnell (Can)
11-4, 11-5, 11-2 (22m)
Tom Ford (Eng) |
Andrew Schnell
5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7 (84m)
[2] Martin Knight |
Scott Arnold (Aus)
11-5, 11-9, 11-7 (33m)
[2] Martin Knight (Nzl) |
Top seeds through to Saskatoon final
Brad Birnie reports
The top two seeds prevailed and the lone Canadian semi-finalist's
run ends on a busy Saturday at the Boast.
At the Saturday dinner, Canadian PSA player Adrian Dudzicki, who
died this week when hit by a car while riding his bike, was toasted
by the Canadian PSA players in attendance.
In the first match between top seed Karim Ali Fathi and Canada's
Dane Sharp, the first two games were closely contested with Ali
Fathi having the edge with tighter length and fewer mistakes. As
Sharp started to rally back to 9-8 in a crucial game two , Ali Fathi
had the answers and won the last three points to go up 2-0. In the
third, Ali Fathi was too good for Sharp, on this day, at least.
Both Martin Knight and Eric Galvez have speed to burn as they appear
to be two of the quickest players in the tournament. Already known
for his spectacular comeback against Andrew Schnell in the
quarter-finals, Knight, the second seed, went down 5-0 in the first
and 7-1 in game two. Galvez was up 8-6 in game one before Knight
rattled off six straight points to take the early 1-0 lead in games.
In game two, down 7-1, he won 11 of 13 points to end game two. The
crowd is almost thinking that coming back from behind is
intentional...
Galvez delights as Knight survives
in Saskatoon quarters
Brad Birnie reports
Saskatoon favourite Eric Galvez once again delighted his Canadian
fans as he beat third seed Farhan Zaman with more exciting squash to
reach the semi-finals. The Boast patrons know and love watching this
former champion.
Reginan Matthew Serediak made a valiant effort against top seed
Karim Ali Fathi but the Egyptian handled everything with ease.
Another gritty win for Dane Sharp against the strong and steady Mike
Harris, the first four games were extremely tight before the Canadia
nfourth seed raced away with the decider.
Canada's Andrew Schnell dominated the opening of his match with
second-seeded Kiwi Martin Knight to go up two games up and 7-1 up in
the third. An incredible, error-free comeback by Knight to win game
three turned the match around. Schnell wasn't done, however, as they
battled closely in the fourth and fifth. Great, close, late-night
squash!
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Round One in Saskatoon
Brad Birnie reports
(1) Karim Ali Fathi bt Carlos Cornes
Fathi's attacking backhand dominates the first game. Cornes
changes pace effectively in the second with a better short game.
Fathi's stronger length takes the match, however.
Matthew Serediak bt David Letourneau
First alternate native Reginan Serediak takes advantage of a late
withdrawal to crash the party and take Letourneau in the first round
matchup of Canucks. Letourneau looked a little sluggish, but battled
hard in the third to come back from 4-10.
Seridiak later said there was a pivotal rally at 5 all in the second
game that went his way and after that he tried to just keep the ball
straight and not give David too many angles to work with and it paid
off as David make a few more errors on the crucial points. It
appeared Matthew maintained his focus and David gave credit to his
fellow Canadian after the match and said "Matt just played better
today".
Michael Harris bt Michael McCue
McCue was uncharacteristically mistake-prone and out-of-sorts.
Harris only needed to play straight squash to win this one.
(4) Dane Sharp bt Abdulla Al Tamimi
This much-anticipated matchup of the solid Sharp, a Saskatoon
favourite, and the up-and-coming Tamimi had the crowd abuzz. It did
not disappoint. Making his first appearance at the Boast, Tamimi won
the Sharp-partisan crowd over with his speed and quick smile as the
two players exchanged the first two games. The next two were
classics, the gritty Sharp winning the crucial third after saving
three game-balls. Tamimimi saved three match balls in the fourth,
but an unforced tin on a cross-court drive ended it.
Tamini has nice hands and great attacking shots but Sharp wore him
down and eventually moved Tamini around the court enough to force
some errors. It appeared Tamini started to tire a bit in the 3rd
game and Sharp played steady and extended the rallies and waited for
the eventual tins. After the match Sharp gave credit to Tamini and
said "... it was either a winner or tin with the young fellow today
it worked out in my favour. "
(3) Farhan Zaman bt Steve London
In a rematch from last year's Boast, Zaman was too much for London
as he dominated the center and didn't give London much to work with.
Eric Galvez bt Justin Beard
Yes, that same Eric Galvez that excites us every year is back again.
And yes, he had another 5-gamer, thrilling everyone. All credit to
the scrappy Beard who lost 3-0 to Galvez two weeks ago in Ottawa as
he retrieved ferociously to take Galvez to five in the longest,
tightest match of the night. Great sportsmanship during a tough
match was great to see.
Beard kept pressuring the experienced Mexican and former 2006
Prairie Auto House Saskatoon Boast champion and just appeared to
finally run out of gas in the 5th game. Beard showed excellent grit
and determination and also true sportsmanship as he called 2 of his
shots down in the 5th game. The appreciate crowd applauded both
players for a hard fought match and were glad to be inside as the
weather outside the building dipped to 20 below Celsius and at times
38 below with the wind chill.
Andrew Schnell bt Tom Ford
Schnell looks to be in good form as he handled Ford easily.
(2) Martin Knight bt Scott Arnold
Knight showed great quickness and the best retrieving of the night
in taking Arnold, a Boast regular. Arnold tested Knight throughout
the match, but the Kiwi was at full stretch when needed. A few more
errors by Arnold made the difference.
Arnold even quipped that the tin should be measured in the first
game as he hit it more frequently than apparently he intended. We've
lowered it from 19 inches last year to 17 inches this year. One
wonders how low we can go?
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