The final day of the tournament series in Windsor brought the largest crowd all week. The women’s final was first up with Nikki Todd playing against Diana Garcia.
They have met several times throughout the years and seemed to be evenly matched. First game was kicked off with a 15-13 win from Garcia putting her one game ahead of Todd. Garcia confidently jumped into the second game with a 6-1 lead, but Todd fought back to bring it back to 6-8. Unfortunately for Todd, Garcia was too strong and managed to pull out the second game 11-7. The number one and number two seed battled it out in a close third game, but Garcia managed to pull out the win for the Women’s Windsor Cup 6K event.
The most anticipated match of the tournament, the Men’s Invitational finals, was set to bring the best squash Windsor has ever seen. Gregoire Marche kicked off the battle with a convincing 11-3 win in the first game over Diego Elias. The second game was much closer with long rallies, tighter shots and more nicks being hit. Elias was able to pull out the game 11-7. The crowd was loving the amazing squash being showcased in Devonshire mall, everyone was on the edge of their seat as Elias barely took the third game 11-9.
Despite Marche going up 8-6 in the fourth game, Elias was able to come back and hold Marche off from taking the match to five games, even though the crowd would’ve loved it. A great week of squash in Windsor was closed off with Jahangir Khan awarding our male and female champions with their Windsor Cup trophy.
Semis :
Some very exciting match ups brought a large crowd to Devonshire mall on Saturday evening. The first semifinals match was Nikki Todd, Canadian favourite against Brooke Herring. Todd came out with a solid 11-4 win in the first game, but Herring fought back in the second to take the game 11-8. Despite Herring’s efforts, Todd was able to close out the match in four games booking her a spot in the finals.
Diego Elias and Shahjahan Khan played the next semifinal where they showcased some great squash with Elias just barely taking the match in four close games. Another four game battle with Diana Garcia and Maria Moya, Garcia was able to pull out the win to gain a spot in the finals. The final, and possibly most exciting, match of the night brought Marwan El Shorbagy and Greg Marche on court for an intense match.
Marche surprised the crowd by stealing the first two games from Shorbagy. A close third game won by Shorbagy got him back in the match, everyone was on the edge of their seats watching some of the best squash they had ever seen. After some controversial moments on court, Marche was able to pull out the win causing a buzz in the crowd over the upset.
Quarters :
The quarterfinal matches took place throughout Friday, starting off with the women’s matches in the afternoon.
The first women’s match Garcia vs. Gasca saw the #2 seed, Diana Garcia into the semifinals after four games. Maria Moya defeated Sara Khan in 3 games, finding a spot in the semifinals tomorrow. Number 1 seed, Nikki Todd beat Amal Izhar despite losing the first game 11-9.
The quarterfinal match of the afternoon saw Herring and Tovar battle it out for the second time this week. Tovar had won the first match on Tuesday but Herring came back with a fight to beat Tovar 11-9 in the fifth game.
The men’s invitational brought four matches of four men top 30 in the world against four of Canada’s top players. Salah Eltorgman held his own against Diego Elias, Elias still came out on top in three games. Nick Sachvie and Mike McCue fought hard against Shahjahan Khan and Gregoire Marche, respectively.
They were both able to take games off their opponents but ultimately, were defeated in four games. The last match of the night was an exciting match against George Crowne, U23 #1, and Marwan El Shorbagy. After three close games, Shorbagy came out on top but, Crowne fought all the way to the end with a Canadian crowd rooting for him. Great matches to end the night of quarterfinals.
Round One :
Thursday, August 18th brought two new and exciting events to the Windsor professional tournament series, the women’s JK Windsor Open and the Men’s Invitational JK Windsor Cup.
The first round matches were won pretty convincingly with all seeds headed through into the quarterfinals with the exception of Maria Moya who defeated the number 4 seed, Arisha Khan in three quick games.
Diana Gasca and Iman Shaheen battled it out in a tough 5 games leaving Gasca out on top and through to the next round.
The Men’s invitational brought some of the best players in the world to Windsor to fight for the Windsor Cup title. Each match brought great squash to the crowd but ultimately, the matches were one sided and favoured the top seeded players.
Despite these results, the crowd loved to watch the local Canadians trying to hold their own against the top professionals in the world.
The best match of the night would have to be Shawn Delierre, #2 in Canada against George Crowne, #1 Canadian in U23. Delierre was the favourite to win but after barely beating Crowne 12-10 in the first game, the crowd knew they had a good match on their hands. After three more tight and intense games, Crowne pulled out the win defeating Delierre for the first time. Moving into the quarterfinals tomorrow many more great match ups are lined up ahead.
The JK Windsor satellite started off on a high as squash legend Jahangir Khan made an appearance at the tournament inauguration. This kicked off a first round of intense squash, every player fighting for the next match spot on the glass court in Devonshire mall.
There was no better way to finish off Monday’s matches than with a five gamer between fourth seed, Nicolas Serna and local, Amin Khan with Khan winning it 12-10 in the fifth. Tuesday’s quarterfinals saw the men’s top seeds moving onto the semifinals where the women’s number two and three were defeated by Niki Shemirani and Molly Chadwick, respectively.
The semifinals were won convincingly on Tuesday evening, lining up two exciting final match ups on Wednesday. The men’s final showcased some amazing squash, but George Crowne was too strong for Salah Eltorgman. Despite the efforts of the other players, Crowne was named champion of the JK Windsor satellite event without even dropping a single game.
The last match of the tournament was the women’s finals, Shemirani came out strong and took the first game, 11-9. The game was quickly turned around by Laura Tovar as she took the second game 11-5. Despite Shemirani’s best efforts, Tovar was too strong and took the match in four close games. Both runner ups and champions where awarded their medals by the one and only, Jahangir Khan.
Two great finals to end the 2022 JK Windsor satellite event in Devonshire mall.
