The first round of the ReidBuilt Homes Edmonton Open in Canada produced a string of marathon encounters – with four matches going the full distance and three lasting well over an hour as players battled for places in the quarter-finals of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 event in its fourth year at the Royal Glenora Club in Edmonton, Alberta.
Top-seeded Canadian Shahier Razik (pictuerd) had one of the toughest matches – fighting back from two games down to overcome Australian qualifier Scott Arnold 8-11, 3-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-5 in 70 minutes.
A home semi-finalist is now assured as Toronto-based world No31 Razik now faces fellow countryman Dane Sharp. By contrast, the 26-year-old from Toronto only needed 35 minutes to see off Canadian qualifier Thomas Brinkman 12-10, 11-5, 11-7.
Shawn Delierre, the fourth seed from Canada whom Razik is expected to meet in the last four round, survived the longest match en-route to his 11-9, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6 victory over compatriot David Letourneau in 89 minutes.
And it took third-seeded Australian Ryan Cuskelly 81 minutes to get the better of Hong Kong’s Leo Au 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8.
Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Shahier Razik (CAN) v Dane Sharp (CAN)
[4] Shawn Delierre (CAN) v Kamran Khan (MAS)
[3] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v Dylan Bennett (NED)
[2] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) v Andrew Schnell (CAN)
1st round:
[1] Shahier Razik (CAN) bt [Q] Scott Arnold (AUS) 8-11, 3-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-5 (70m)
Dane Sharp (CAN) bt [Q] Thomas Brinkman (CAN) 12-10, 11-5, 11-7 (35m)
Kamran Khan (MAS) bt Gonzalo Miranda (ARG) 11-1, 11-7, 11-8 (32m)
[4] Shawn Delierre (CAN) bt David Letourneau (CAN) 11-9, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6 (89m)
[3] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt Leo Au (HKG) 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8 (81m)
Dylan Bennett (NED) bt [Q] Kam Hing Choong (MAS) 14-16, 11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5 (55m)
Andrew Schnell (CAN) bt [Q] Anthony Graham (ENG) 11-4, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9 (50m)
[2] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt Dick Lau (HKG) 7-11, 11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3 (54m)
Qualifying finals:
Scott Arnold (AUS) bt Justin Todd (CAN) 11-3, 11-8, 11-5 (28m)
Kam Hing Choong (MAS) bt Tyler Hamilton (CAN) 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 (31m)
Thomas Brinkman (CAN) bt Matthew Serediak (CAN) 11-8, 11-7, 12-10 (33m)
Anthony Graham (ENG) bt Geoffrey Demont (FRA) 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 (41m)
1st qualifying round:
Scott Arnold (AUS) bt Michael McCue (CAN) 11-4, 11-0, 11-4 (30m)
Justin Todd (CAN) bt Gavin Lee Perrett (ENG) 11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8 (35m)
Kam Hing Choong (MAS) bt Fred Reid (CAN) 9-11, 1-11, 11-4, 11-3, 11-8 (47m)
Tyler Hamilton (CAN) bt Tyler Lee (CAN) 11-0, 11-2, 12-10 (27m)
Matthew Serediak (CAN) bt Maxime Blouin (CAN) 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 (40m)
Thomas Brinkman (CAN) bt Shane Son Kee (CAN) w/o
Geoffrey Demont (FRA) bt Adrian de Vries (CAN) 11-1, 11-1, 11-4 (21m)
Anthony Graham (ENG) bt Eric Dingle (CAN) 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 (37m)
