Canadian Men’s Open Quarter Final: Rodriguez Wins Mammoth Battle To Reach Final Four

The ‘Colombian Cannonball’ Miguel Rodriguez had to dig deep to defeat France’s surprise quarter finalist Auguste Dussourd in the Oxford Properties Canadian Men’s Open 2023.

Given the hot and bouncy conditions of the court, another attritional start took place with both player looking to find space on the court and exploit each other’s movement early on. Dussourd managed to force errors from the Colombian in lengthy exchanges and gave himself two game balls to take an all-important first game. Rodriguez battled back and after two successful video reviews and two winners, the Colombian sealed the game 12-10.

Rodriguez carried his game-one moment into the following game and started to stretch Dussourd, using his trademark speed to move around Dussourd and hit space on the court. At 8-5 Rodriguez looked to be making a move in the match as he hunted down a 2-0 lead. Dussourd was stubborn however and used clever angles to disrupt the rhythm of Rodriguez and ran through to take the game 12-10 and draw level.

The long, drawn-out rallies continued to come as time ticked on at Bow Valley Square. Both Rodriguez and Dussourd were stubborn in their approaches as they were both carded blows at the back of the court, patiently waiting for an opportunity to go short. Rodriguez captured the third game 11-8 and looked to have broken Dussourd physically as the fourth game progressed. The Colombian managed to pull away in the middle stages and took the 101-minute affair, winning 11-5 in the fourth.

“Auguste has been playing great this season,”said Rodriguez.

“All credit to him he was putting me under a lot of pressure, he was playing really well today at altitude and on a bouncy court. He had a good strategy against me and I had to really push to win these points. I kept believing in myself, just doing the right things, I used my experience and I think that might have been the key to winning today.

“My fans and friends are the reason I keep playing. I’m 37 years old and I’m still enjoying my game. When I saw this event on the calendar I wanted to come back and play again, I played in Calgary 12 years ago and I wanted to come back to a place where I have good memories. I knew that the conditions might suit me so I’m so happy to win today and make another semi-final.”

Result:

[4] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) bt Auguste Dussourd (FRA) 3-1: 12-10, 10-12, 11-8, 11-5 (101m)