Toronto NSA 1st Round Report
by Mike McCue
August 15, 2012 - There was local interest in every match of the opening round today In Toronto. First up in the afternoon session, Calgary native and Toronto resident Andrew McDougall downed Eric Dingle 3-0 with some room to spare. McDougall has been going about his business quietly as usual this week but will taking some beating. His next opponent is Declan James, who beat Micah Franklin (both staying with me this week!) in three reasonably close games. Franklin started very well before James upped the quality and pace. Watched this one on the live streaming from my apartment, about 500 metres from the club!
Adrian Dudzicki has been working extremely hard this summer but unfortunately could not deliver the goods today. Yuta Fukui gladly accepted several free points and ultimately won comfortably. He has yet to be sternly tested in this event. The closest match of the night was between Matt "the Duck" Serediak and Sehyun Lee. Lee had served noticed of his level with two good qualifying wins, and looked poised to beat his third Canadian in a row as he took a 2-1 lead. Despite not getting on court at all for the last week while visiting home, Serediak strung together four great rallies from 7-all in the fourth to force a fifth. The fifth was very scrappy; too much interference and some interesting decisions. Both players were opting for quick attacks versus attritional rallies in the latter stages. Matt was able to nose ahead and win the sprint to the finish, much to the chagrin of Lee.
Dave Letourneau, returning to Toronto just yesterday after a month in the States, clinically controlled the second Caribbean player in the draw- Cameron Stafford. Both men are well over six feet tall and have superb ball control. Letourneau was able to take then initiative from the beginning and always held slight leads. Top seeded Dane Sharp started his title defence successfully with a straight games win over Luke Butterworth. Luke is another player who hasn't seen too much court time recently, but plays a clean and fair game. Dane was too strong on the night though.
The most anticipated match was the last...Scott Arnold vs. Colin West. Scott opened well and snuck the first despite a few tins in the middle of games. Colin took charge in the next two games with his usual weapons. The fourth game was the best of the night; several dives, some close decisions, perfectly constructed rallies and match balls saved. Colin was able to hit a glued backhand drop at 13-12 to advance to the quarters...a rare feat for a qualifying local.
Results:
(1) Dane Sharp (CAN) bt Luke Butterworth (ENG) 3-0 (11-4, 11-6,11-4)
Matt Serediak (CAN) bt Seyhun Lee (KOR) 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10)
Yuta Fukui (JPN) bt Adrian Dudzicki (CAN) 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-3)
(3) Dave Letourneau (CAN) bt Cameron Stafford (CAY) 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-8)
(4) Declan James (ENG) bt Micah Franklin (BER) 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 14-12)
Andrew McDougall (CAN) bt Eric Dingle (CAN) 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-5)
Mike McCue (CAN) bt Tyler Hamilton (CAN) 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-7)
Colin West (CAN) bt (2) Scott Arnold (AUS) 3-1 (9-11, 11-4, 11-6, 14-12)
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