Saskatoon Boast Final

Final: Avila wins all-Mexican final

The crowd was electric waiting for the start of the final.  Everyone was anticipating a close match that would show if it was time for a changing of the guard in Mexican players at the Saskatoon Boast.

[1] Alfredo Avila (Mex) 3-0 [2] Leonel Cardenas (Mex)  11-2, 11-6, 11-7 (42m)

Leo is enjoying the best form of his career with four $10K titles in recent months.  Alfredo is a seasoned campaigner that has showed great form all week.  The first game went quickly with Cardenas looking to go short and trying to hit winners and Avila picking everything up and forcing errors from the young player.

The second started very close with Leo playing more in control and keeping the score even up to 6-all.  From there, the very experienced older player took the business end of the game with no mistakes.

The third was almost a formality with Leo knowing that it wasn’t to be his day and going for shots out of position.  Alfredo kept his composure and focus and cruised into his first Movember Boast Championship!!

Top four seeds through to semis in Saskatchewan

[1] Alfredo Avila (MEX) 3-0 [5] Nick Sachvie (CAN)

The Canadian had big expectations for another Boast appearance. Avila was very controlled and had excellent smooth movement that kept him ahead and stopped Nick from making inroads into the match.

[4] Daniel Mekbib (CZE) 3-0 [7] Cameron Seth (CAN)

The Czech player was under control for the duration of the match. A few errors gave Cameron some cheap points but Daniel regained his composure to close out the match with an absolute roller crosscourt nick.

[3] Shawn Delierre (CAN) 3-1 [8] Ondrej Uherka (CZE)

What was anticipated to be a long drawn out match did involve many decisions for the young referee. Shawn showed his experience on these courts and had good composure to stop the agile Czech in the fourth.

[2] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) 3-1 [6] Martin Svec (CZE)

The longest match of the morning saw a repeat of a Kelowna match 2 weeks ago. After taking a controlled first game, Martin did little for his cause by giving up some cheap boast tins. The Czech player stopped hitting cheap errors and made the fourth close but the result was a repeat of Kelowna with Leo playing at the top of his game.

Round One Match Points … by James Stephenson

Curtis Malik 3-0 Brock Janzer
The British player was strongly in control. Brock tried to let his racket go but made too many errors to be able to give Curtis much trouble.

Tom Walsh 3-0 Darosham Khan 
A strong showing from the Englishman, who controlled play and was able to prevent the skilled Canadian from getting comfortable.

Thomas King 3-0 Jason Gelowitz 
Local Jason Gelowitz was in tight against fellow Saskatchewan player, Thomas King. His spirited performance fell short.

Robin Gadola 3-0 Faisal Riaz 
The young Swiss player looked very strong and in control versus the elder statesmen. Not much challenge for a berth in the second round.

Connor Turk 3-1 Noman Khan 
The match began very evenly with the players struggling with poor footing on the court, and splitting the first two games. Beginning in the third Connor began to pull away with excellent shots and control.

Miled Zarazúa 3-0 Perry Malik
The young Englishman was game for an attritional match. The first game saw him fight off 6 game balls before relinquishing the game. Miled seemed to gain confidence and momentum as the match went on and he was glad to close it out in three games.

Naveed Rehman 3-0 [WC] Ahmed Abualela 
Two very skilled young players put on a great show with Naveed fighting off multiple game balls before finishing the tight first game 13-11. Throughout the match, Ahmed’s power was on display, but the young Pakistani began finding his mark, and his nick winners proved to be the difference.

Cory McCartney3-2 [WC] Maaz Farzan Mufti 
A very entertaining match to end the night with Maaz, the young junior, hitting great winners and picking up everything. Cory was tested in keeping him at bay and had to use all of his mental toughness to eke out a close victory.