Dane Sharp, Colin West Into Toronto NSA Open Finals
by Mike McCue
August 18, 2012 - Toronto native Colin West achieved one of the rarest feats on the PSA tour tonight- reaching the finals of an event as an unranked local. Having already won four matches this week to reach the semi-finals, Colin faced housemate Andrew McDougall in the semis, both players seeking their first appearance in a tour final. The first two games were attritional affairs, eventually split one-each after two tiebreaks. The ball softened up dramatically at the start of the third, and Colin capitalized with several quick winners at the start of the game to establish an insurmountable lead. He seemed poised to carry this momentum through the fourth game as he did last night, but Andrew was the sharper player during this faze and forced a deciding game without too much contest. West won the all-important opening rallies of the fifth and was too focused to let a comeback attempt from McDougall faze him.
Earlier in the night, two frequent sparring partners faced off for the other spot in the final. Dave Letourneau beat Dane Sharp 11/9 in the fifth the last time they met on the PSA Tour, but tonight Dane always carried a small lead despite the three games lasting nearly an hour. Dane is a very determined competitor, especially on his home courts, and forced several errors out of the skilled Letourneau in the first game. There was never much separation between the two, but Dane had an air of self-assurance throughout that seemed to give him the advantage on crucial points.
And so the final is set; top seed versus unranked qualifier. This is usually the mark of an opening round matchup dominated by the favourite; but Colin has repeatedly shown that he is not your average "local". There is no consensus on predictions for tomorrow and it will certainly be a war.
Results:
(1) Dane Sharp (CAN) bt (3) David Letourneau (CAN) 11/6, 11/8, 11/7 (54m)
Colin West (CAN) bt Andrew McDougall (CAN) 10/12, 13/11, 11/2, 5/11, 11/5 (82m*) * incl.injury break
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