Canada National Singles Wrap-up

Congrats to your Racquetball Canada 2019 Singles Champions:

Men’s Open: Samuel Murray
Women’s Open: Jen Saunders

They take big steps towards putting themselves onto the plane to represent Canada at this August’s 2019 International Racquetball Federation – IRF Pan American Games, the biggest event in our sport. Based on the 2019 PARC qualifying Team Canada will get two players each in Men’s and Women’s, and based on the qualifying as of late it definitely seems like the two singles finalists in each draw will form the teams for Peru later this year, but we’ll wait to hear official word of attendance.

R2sports link: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=30409

Here’s a recap of the draw, noting results I found interesting:

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Men’s Singles:
PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/5FFA3A

No Surprises in the round of 16, with all seeds advancing in 2 games. Closest match was #13 Ian Frattinger pushing #4 Pedro Castro to 13,10 in their match.

In the quarters:
– One upset by seed: #5 Trevor Webb took out #4 Castro in two. 
– Both #2 and #3 seeds were taken to tiebreakers but advanced. 
– Coby Iwaasa came from a game down to advance past #7 Lee Connell.

In the semis:
– #1 Samuel Murray made quick work of Webb 3,2.
– #2 Iwaasa played a close game 1 then took off to win game 2 going away over #3 Tim Landeryou 13,2.

The Final was a rematch of the 2015 and 2018 Canadian finals, as well as a rematch of the last three running qualifier events. Murray and Iwaasa split the last two finals rematches, but this one was a Murray win going away 3,6. Murray captures his 2nd Canadian National title.

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Women’s singles:
PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/315210

In the play-in round of 16, Cassie Prentice won in a slight upset by seeding, taking out the #8 Murielle Boivin 9,4. Meanwhile, the younger Parent sister Juliette beat her older sister Marjolaine 4,10 to advance.

In the quarters
– All 4 top seeds advanced, chalk.
– #3 Michèle Morissette advanced with the interesting score line of 1,(7),1 over vet Linda Marie Ellerington.

In the Semis:
– #1 Jen Saunders won a solid match over #4 Danielle Drury 13,8
– #2 Christine Richardson advanced over #3 Morissette in two close games.

In the Final, a rematch of last year’s Canadian National championship, Saunders won going away 4,1 to claim her 11th National Title. Saunders has now made at least the Canadian National singles final in NINTEEN consecutive years; every year since 2001. You have to go back to the 2000 national tournament to find a Women’s Canadian singles final that didn’t include Saunders (that year, Jackchristie Huczek beat Lori-Jane Powell for the title). Its a pretty amazing run for Saunders, who shows no sign of slowing down.

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