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Expression Networks BVAC Open 2023 |
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Expression Networks BVAC Open 2023
Men's Draw
13 - 17 Feb
Calgary, Canada, $12k |
ROUND TWO
14 Feb |
QUARTERS
15 Feb |
SEMIS
16 Feb |
FINAL
17 Feb |
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[1] Nicole Bunyan (CAN)
11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7 (38m)
[9/16] Ching Hei Fung (HKG) |
Nicole Bunyan
11-7, 10-12, 15-13,
11-8 (45m)
Cheng Nga Ching |
Nicole Bunyan
11-8, 13-11, 12-10 (42m)
Marie Stéphan |
Nicole Bunyan
5-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-7 (46m)
Diana Garcia |
[9/16] Cheng Nga Ching (HKG)
11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (23m)
[5] Sarah Cardwell (AUS) |
[8] Alicia Mead (ENG)
12-10, 11-4, 11-5 (30m)
[9/16] Alison Thomson (SCO) |
Alicia Mead
11-7, 11-9, 11-9 (32m)
Marie Stéphan |
[3] Marie Stéphan (FRA)
11-3, 11-7, 11-2 (19m)
[9/16] Ambre Allinckx (SUI) |
[4] Zeina Zein (EGY)
11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (25m)
[9/16] Sohaila Ismail (EGY) |
Zeina Zein
7-11, 11-7, 11-0, 11-8 (33m)
Kaitlyn Watts |
Kaitlyn Watts
11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (32m)
Diana Garcia |
[6] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL)
11-9, 11-2, 11-8 (25m)
[9/16] Ali Loke (WAL) |
[9/16] Diana Garcia (MEX)
11-8, 11-3, 11-5 (26m)
[7] Alex Haydon (AUS) |
Diana Garcia
6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 (32m)
Énora Villard |
[9/16] Riya Navani (USA)
11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (25m)
[2] Énora Villard (FRA) |
[1] Nicole Bunyan (CAN) bye
[9/16] Ching Hei Fung (HKG) bt Hannah Guthrie (CAN) 11-3, 11-3, 11-2
(19m)
[9/16] Cheng Nga Ching (HKG) bt Catherine Giachino (CAN) 11-5, 11-2,
11-1 (16m)
[5] Sarah Cardwell (AUS) bye
[8] Alicia Mead (ENG) bye
[9/16] Alison Thomson (SCO) bt Maddison Laine (CAN) 11-6, 11-5, 11-6
(24m)
[9/16] Ambre Allinckx (SUI) bt Georgia Watson (CAN) 11-2, 11-2, 11-0
(12m)
[3] Marie Stéphan (FRA) bye
[4] Zeina Zein (EGY) bye
[9/16] Sohaila Ismail (EGY) bt Sara Khan (CAN) 11-1, 11-2, 11-8 (12m)
[9/16] Ali Loke (WAL) bt Niki Shemirani (IRI) 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7
(37m)
[6] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) bye
[7] Alex Haydon (AUS) bye
[9/16] Diana Garcia (MEX) bt Jaime Laird (CAN) 11-4, 11-1, 11-1 (17m)
[9/16] Riya Navani (USA) bt Amelia Knapp (CAN) 12-10, 11-6, 11-2 (23m)
[2] Énora Villard (FRA) bye |
Final
Unseeded Mexican Diana Garcia Claims Second Successive
Title
World No.89 Diana Garcia silenced the Calgary crowd as she recovered
from a game down to defeat home favourite Nicole Bunyan and lift the
Expression Networks BVAC Women’s Canadian Open and pick her up her
second PSA Challenger event title in a row.
Diana Garcia & Nicole Bunyan in action
An edgy start from both players made for lots of traffic around the
middle of the court, with Bunyan becoming more and more frustrated with
the contact that Garcia was initiating. Despite this, the Canadian
managed to keep the ball moving and hit crisp lines to the back to take
control of the game and win it 11-5.
Garcia responded well in the second and started to look less nervous and
more confident on court, firing balls into the front corners to test the
movement of Bunyan. The Mexican utilised her backhand drop and
crosscourt mix to always keep the No.2 seed on her toes and took the
second and third games 11-4, 11-8 to lead 2-1 and place one hand on the
trophy.
Garcia continued to motor forward in the match and blocked out the home
support for Bunyan well to remain focused on the task at hand. Bunyan
looked to be running out of ideas in the contest, whilst Garcia was
picking off the lengths of the Canadian. Garcia ran out to 10-5 and
converted at the third time of asking to lift her second PSA Challenger
title in a row.
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Semi Finals
Home Favourite Bunyan To Face Giant Killer Garcia For
The Title
Home favourite and No.2 seed Nicole Bunyan will face giant killer Diana
Garcia from Mexico in the final of the Expression Networks BVAC Women’s
Open 2023 after the pair beat France’s Marie Stephan and Kaitlyn Watts
respectively.
The two surprise semi-finalists opened the day’s play at Bow Valley
Square as Diana Garcia and Kaitlyn Watts took to the court in a bid to
reach the final. The Mexican came out the blocks at a frightening pace,
taking the ball extremely early and pushing Watts into all four corners
and forcing the New Zealander into some extreme movements.
Diana Garcia in action.
After losing the opening game 11-5, Watts responded in strong style and
started to step up the court and put her own pressure onto Garcia. Watts
ran out to 8-3 and looked sure to be drawing level in the match, but
Garcia had other ideas. The 30-year-old got back to winnings ways and
impressively took the next eight points to steal the game from Watts,
winning 11-8.
The second game scoreline was repeated in the third game as Garcia
booked her place in her second final of 2023. The resistance from Watts
was strong in patches but the Mexican was too aggressive in the right
areas on the day.
Bunyan came out to a warm reception at Bow Valley Square as the Calgary
crowd were eager to see a home finalist. The No.2 seed used her strong
movement and solid technique to move the ball into difficult positions
for Stephan to have to deal with in the opening game. She ran through to
take the game 11-8 and draw first blood in the tie.
Stephan stepped up in the following game and kept her squash simple but
effective as she moved from strength to strength to earn a 7-0 lead.
Bunyan started to mount her comeback and looked more confident attacking
the front corners with nothing to lose. All of a sudden, the Canadian
was back to 9-9. A stroke for each player sent the game into a tiebreak,
which Bunyan managed to play the better of the two and take the game
13-11.
Stephan’s frustration at losing game two was evident as she returned to
the court in the third game. Bunyan was calm and collected however and
continued to work the ball into good areas and set herself up with two
match balls at 10-8. A stroke and a good squeeze on the side wall from
Stephan forced another tiebreak, but the same rallies happened again in
the next two rallies but this time, Bunyan was the beneficiary as she
claimed a place in the final.
For more information on the event, Where available see the
PSA Live Scores page, or follow
on
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&
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SQUASHTV.
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Quarter Finals
Garcia Downs Top Seed To Gatecrash Semi-Finals
Mexico’s Diana Garcia produced a terrific performance in the third
quarter final of the day to overcome a 42 ranking place deficit and beat
top seed and World No.47 Enora Villard to each the final four in the
Expression Networks BVAC Women’s Open 2023.
Villard looked strong in the opening game as she hit crisply to the back
corners and heaped the pressure onto Garcia which resulted in poor
replies from the Mexican, allowing Villard to take game one 11-6.
Garcia was not deterred however and came back onto court with a great
attitude and started to move up the court and try to take time away from
Villard. The game plan was working as the Colley kills and boasts were
causing the top seed all kinds of trouble. Garcia ran through to take
the final three games 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 in 32 minutes.
“I feel amazing! I know she is a really good player, so I’m just so
happy to win,” said Garcia.
“I tried to play fast and move her, I wanted to volley where I could and
I thought the court was quite dead at the front. I am trying to make it
to the World Championships. I have two other 10k events coming up and I
want to do well in all of those and here this week to hopefully make the
World Championships.”
No.3 seed Marie Stephan got the quarter finals underway with a win over
England’s Alicia Mead in four games. The Frenchwoman struggled to adjust
to the glass court in the opening game which allowed Mead to capitalise
on loose balls and pull away on the scoreboard to win game one 11-7.
After losing that first game, the higher seed found her range on the
court and it was now Mead who was struggling to read some bounces in the
back corners and making errors, which was only giving Stephan
confidence. She confidently took the following three games 11-7, 11-0,
11-8 in 33 minutes.
Kaitlyn Watts produced a terrific performance in the following match as
she overcame No.4 seed Zeina Zein in straight games to reach the
semi-finals. The pace of the game was extremely hight throughout, with
both players showcasing excellent movement to pull off unbelievable
retrievals. After winning the opener 11-7, the New Zealand No.2 hung
tough in the following games to win both 11-9 and book her place in the
final four.
Home favourite Nicole Bunyan completed the semi-final line-up as she
came through a tricky contest with Hong Kong’s Cheng Nga Ching to keep
home hopes alive in the Challenger 10 event.
Bunyan’s solid technique was allowing her to put pressure on Ching and
deal with the attacks that she was facing herself. After Bunyan took the
opening game 11-7, the Hong Kong player responded with great shots to
the front two corners and made life difficult for the home favourite.
With the score level at 1-1, the pair produced a huge third game battle
with all corners in use and terrific rallies on show. The game’s
momentum changed constantly, especially as the game reached a tiebreak.
Ching saved four game balls but wasn’t able to convert on her ow game
balls, as Bunyan closed the games out 15-13. Bunyan took the fourth game
11-8 to close out the match and reach the semis.
For more information on the event, Where available see the
PSA Live Scores page, or follow
on
Facebook,
Twitter,
Instagram
&
TikTok. Selected
PSA Tour Events will also be shown live on
SQUASHTV.
|
Preview
After a week without any Challenger Tour action, the Expression Networks
BVAC Women’s Open begins on Monday afternoon in Calgary.
The Challenger 10 level competition will run alongside the Oxford
Properties Canadian Men’s Open presented by AirSprint Private Aviation,
all of which will take place at the Bow Valley Athletic Club in Calgary
from Monday, February 13 to Friday, February 17.
Frenchwoman Enora Villard will be the top seed for the women’s event,
with compatriot Marie Stephan also among the top four seeds. Nicole
Bunyan will be the No.2 seed and the leading Canadian in the draw, with
18-year-old Zeina Zein as the No.4 seed, and looking for her third Tour
title.
England’s Alicia Mead will join the Oceanic trio of Sarah Cardwell, Alex
Haydon and Kaitlyn Watts as the remainder of the top eight seeds, who
will all receive byes through the opening round’s action.
The Hong Kong duo of Cheng Nga Ching and Ching Hei Fung are among the
9/16 seeding bracket, along with Switzerland’s Ambre Allinckx and
Scotland’s Alison Thomson. Mexican No.1 Diana Garcia will also be in
that bracket, and aiming to win for the second time in 2023 after her
victory on home soil at the Faltami Squash Inn Classic last month.
There will be nine Canadians in action in total, with Bunyan leading the
way. Catherine Giachino, Hannah Guthrie, Sara Khan, Amelia Knapp, Jaime
Laird, Maddison Laine, Niki Shemirani and Georgia Watson will also be in
action this week in Calgary.
For more information on the event, Where available see the
PSA Live Scores page, or follow
on
Facebook,
Twitter,
Instagram
&
TikTok. Selected
PSA Tour Events will also be shown live on
SQUASHTV. |
|
