Canada Cup Round One

Round One of the Workforce Canada Cup saw action take place at four Toronto venues. 
At Toronto Athletic top seed Diego Elias was taken to five games before seeing off Canada’s Mike McCue, at Toronto Lawn Arturo Salazar upset Adrian Waller to join twin brother Cesar - who won at Ontario Racquet Club - in the last eight, while at the Cambridge Club Campbell Grayson took out fourth seed Leo Au.

Chris Hollow reports from the Cambridge Club
Grayson Grinds Out the Upset Campbell Grayson of New Zealand staged a first-round upset of Hong Kong’s Leo Au in the first round of the Workforce Canada Cup, taking down his higher-ranked counterpart 3-0 in 57m.  Each game remained knotted until the middle section when, despite appearing to be working harder, the Kiwi pulled away during the business end.  
A valiant comeback in Game Two fell just short and the former Asian Individual Champion dropped a hotly-contested Game Three in extra points, sending Grayson through to the Quarters.

Grayson 3-0 over Au (11-6, 11-9, 14-12) 57m
Clyne Holds Off YuenNumber 5 seed Alan Clyne used his patient brand of squash to hold off unseeded Ivan Yuen in the second match of the night at the host venue, the Cambridge Club.  The Scot won a tight 21m Game One in extra points only to drop Game Two to the shot-making of the Malaysian.  
Steady & patient through the balance of the match, Clyne came back from 6-9 down in Game Four to punch his ticket to next round with an exciting 15-13 win.

Clyne over Yeun 3-1 (12-10, 8-11, 11-6,  15-13) 69m

Top seed Diego takes fiveGame 1
Mike gets out to a strong 4-0 lead.  Diego is looking a little slow off the mark.  His injury may still be bothering him.  Mike is playing positive squash.  A few errors from Diego puts Mike to 7-2.  Diego is warming up and comes back to 6-8.   Mike wins a tough rally after a tin from Diego going 9-6 up.  Couple controversial call brings Diego back to 8-9.  Mikes get a stroke on the next point followed by a tin by Diego to win the first game.
Game 2
Things start a little chippy at the start of the second.  Each player is arguing with the ref.  They exchange the few point but Mike edges out a 4-2 lead.  The rallies are starting to get longer at this point.  Diego brings it back to 4-4 with some nice length and a couple of errors from Mike.  Diego is getting on a role but Mike is sticking in there and brings it back to 6-6 from being 4-6 down.   A brutally long rally ensues and Mike wins it with a perfect forehand counter drop to go up 7-6.  Diego wins the next rally on a stroke to bring it back to 7-7.  Mike is starting to show some fatigue but again he’s keeping the score close as they exchange points.  8-8.  Mike hits a forehand drop winner from the back to go up 9-8.  A tin from Mike brings it back to 9-9.  Mike hits another forehand winner to go up 10-9 game ball.  The rally ends with a let but Diego is not happy.  He wanted a stroke and Mike thought the ball was down so the ref played a let.  Another let on the next rally.  Mike hits a winner to take the second game.
Game 3Diego ups the pace to start the third game and takes the first point.  Mike comes back and wins the next two points to go up 2-1.  Diego is changing his tactics and is  putting the ball in the front right with more frequency and chipping it in on the back hand and takes the next points to tie is 2-2.  Mike is not letting Diego get his movement or his groove and takes the next point 3-2.  Diego takes the three points to go up 5-3.  Mike claws back to 5-5.  Mike works Diego the next rally and finishes with a nice backhand drop to go up 6-5.  Diego gets a stroke to tie it at 6-6.  Diego hits a forehand winner to go up 7-6.  Diego puts together a beautiful string of points to take the game 11-6.  Mike is showing his fatigue and Diego is warm and absorbing well.
Game 4
Mike win the two rallies with one length winner and a great backhand volley drop.  Diego is controlling the pace and the game now and gets out to a 7-3 lead.   Mike comes back with a nice winner to bring it to 4-7.  A couple of exchanged points and Diego goes up 8-5.  Mike narrowly hits the tin to put Diego up 9-5.  Diego takes 2 quick points to take the 4th 11-5.
Game 5
Diego starts well with pin point length accuracy and takes the first rally with a stroke.  Let on the next rally and Mike is vehemently wanting a stroke as he believes Diego is blocking.  The chippiness from the second game has continued through the match.  Mike is really showing the fatigue and Diego goes to 6-0. Mike hits a nice backhand drop to get his first point of the board.  Another great point by Mike takes him to 2-6.  Two quick points from Diego takes him to 8-2.  Tin by Diego gives Mike some hope at 3-8.  Mike is working hard to stay in it but Diego is keeping up the pressure and goes up 9-3.  Good boast from Diego give him match ball.  Mike gets one more back from a tin by Diego.    
Diego Elias vs Mike McCue (Score: Diego wins 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4, Time: 71min)

Ontario Racquet ClubReported by Michael Bertin
The Ontario Racquet Club was happy to host two opening round matches on their show court, newly fitted with a professional tin, of the 2018 Workforce Canada Cup, a $50,000 world ranking event; organized by Shahier Razik (Tournament Director), with the Cambridge Club of Toronto.
 Max Lee(6) beat David Baillargeon(qualifier, currently Canadian #7)—60 minutes, 11-9 / 11-7 / 8-11 / 11-6
Cesar Salazar(3) beat Shawn Delierre(qualifier, currently Canadian #1)—25 minutes, 11-6 / 11-5 / 11-5
Lee v Baillargeon
Game 1 saw Lee establish his pattern for the match, grabbing an early lead with a series of quick one steps off the “T” to volley consistent tight balls down the walls, especially with his forehand, which kept David constantly going to the back to dig balls out of the corners.  Lee showed a good mix of squash strokes, hitting tight length and crosscourts, and then feathering drops tight to the front corners.  Baillargeon seemed to be in scramble mode, but he stayed relaxed and deliberate as he kept retrieving balls until his opportunity to go of the offensive arrived.  From 4-6, David hit a beautiful backhand fake drop, a good cross court to length followed by a volley nick and suddenly he was up 8-7.  Lee was seemingly helping David’s cause by hitting 3 unforced tins on attempted drop shots, but momentum kept switching in this game, with Lee again finding his rhythm with steady length, great racquet holds that kept Baillargeon scrambling, and two “slap” forehands to the right front corner for winners, game won 11-9.
Game 2 saw Lee more in control from start to finish.  His racquet holds and volley drop were particularly effective as Max seemed to increase the pace of the game, controlling the game from the “T”.  Again, Max made a couple of unforced errors on attempted drops, hitting the tin, and the crowd were wondering if a repeat of Game #1 was going to happen.  This time, Lee quickly got control of the game again, serving out at 11-7.
Game 3 saw the match continue on the same pattern, but then David made a change in his strategy, deciding to change tactics, varying his play, mixing his shots more—hitting a few boasts and striking some of his own volley nics to get Max off the “T”.  Again, Lee hit a few unforced errors, and David pulled to 10-8, and served out to win, 11-7.  Match on!
The sold out crowd was shifting in their seats as Game 4 started, some sensing that an upset may be in the brewing.  Lee also seemed to sense he needed to pick up his play, and he was relentless in playing the way he began the match.  Points were hard to come by for either player and long rallies ensued before any point was scored.  But at 4-3, Lee’s consistent volleying to length and feather drops to the front corners seemed to take its toll on Baillargeon as Lee started to string points together, ending the match with an 11-6 win.
Salazar v Delierre
After the 60 minute first match, the ORC crowd was ready for another high level match as ORC host Al Cook announced the players, Cesar Salazar(known for his relentless play) and Shawn Delierre who is part of 3 of the 5 longest matches in PSA history.

Game 1 – Much of the talk during the knock up was the “short shorts” that Shawn was wearing for the match.  The crowd thought Shawn might have just come from a warm-up run as the shorts resembled more or a runner’s shorts rather than traditional squash wear, but the shorts ended up being a metaphor for how the match rallies would go and the outcome of all the games.  Both players seemed to be ready to end points quickly, whether it be for a winner or tin, and unfortunately for Shawn’s sake he was on the “short” end of most of the points.
To Salazar’s compliment, he played top level squash, hitting solid length down the walls and crosscourts, delaying his racquet swing which had Shawn moving to where he guessed the ball was going only to see the ball go whizzing by in the opposite direction.  The game ended with Shawn hitting a tin from the back of the court, emblematic of how the whole match would go, Salazar winning 11-6.
Game 2 began as the crowd was expecting when the match first started, entertaining shot making and gets by both players, although there were still a few unforced errors into the tin.  The score was going up by 1s with each player showing solid squash until Salazar broke through the pattern and went to 6-4; then with Shawn doing a lot of guessing, Cesar ran the game out 11-5.
Game 3 was much the same as the later part of Game 2.  Salazar controlling rallies, Shawn visiting corner to corner, mixed in with a few good shots for points.  However, Salazar was in control of the match from beginning to end, showing why he is currently ranked #21 on the PSA tour, and he closed out the match with an easy 11-5 win.
Reported by Michael Bertin