Simpson Sets Sights On Second Calgary Crown
by Howard Harding
22 January 2012 - England's defending champion Chris Simpson is poised to become only the second two-time winner of the Talisman Energy Bankers Hall Club Pro Am title after coming through the semi-finals of Canada's established PSA World Tour Challenger 10 squash event at the Bankers Hall Club in Calgary.
But to join Mexican Arturo Salazar as the only back-to-back winner of the title, the Guernsey-born 24-year-old will have to overcome the impressive Leo Au, the world No 87 from Hong Kong.
"Like Simpson, Au has seemed to get better each match of this tenth annual event here," said tournament organiser Bob Ballinger.
In front of a packed afternoon crowd in downtown Calgary, Au put an end to the impressive run of Charles Sharpes in a straight games victory.
The Englishman had spent over 90 minutes on court in each of his previous two matches - in the first, removing top seeded Malaysian Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan - and possibly was a half step off his pace of the first two matches.
In each game of their 61-minute semi-final, Au was always a comfortable number of points ahead of Sharpes, who was unable to put himself into Sunday's final. The 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 victory takes 21-year-old Au into the sixth PSA Tour final of his career - but his first in North America.
The second semi, between second seed Simpson and Canadian Andrew Schnell, was a rematch of a first round encounter between these two players last year, when Simpson started his run to winning the tournament by beating the Calgary star in straight games.
"So could Schnell, after one more year of experience on the PSA circuit as well as international team play with Canada's national team, improve on last year's result with Simpson?" said Ballinger.
Sadly for the young Calgary player, there would not be a victory as the defending champion Simpson turned in a near perfect match to take out the 20-year-old 11-4, 11-5, 11-3 in 45 minutes.
"Simpson's game truly was one of the most impressive displays of squash we have seen here for quite some time as it showed not only his experience of being on the circuit for longer than Schnell but also how he was able to cope with the lively courts here with altitude in downtown Calgary," added Ballinger.
Simpson is marking the fifth Tour final of his career - and goes in to the match with Au boasting a perfect four-wins-out-of-four record in his previous finals.
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 10 Talisman Energy Bankers Hall Club Pro Am, Calgary, Canada
Semi-finals:
Leo Au (HKG) bt Charles Sharpes (ENG) 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 (61m)
[2] Chris Simpson (ENG) bt Andrew Schnell (CAN) 11-4, 11-5, 11-3 (45m)
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