Canadian Men’s Open Semi-Finals: Crouin Comes Through Quality Clash To Beat Rodriguez In 85 Minutes

France’s top seed Victor Crouin came through a superb battle with ‘Colombian Cannonball’ Miguel Rodriguez to reach his fifth final of the season at the Oxford Properties Canadian Men’s Open 2023.

After coming through a huge 101-minute battle in yesterday’s quarter finals against Auguste Dussourd, questions would be asked about how the physicality of Miguel Rodriguez in the opening game of his semi-final. Crouin looked to be conscious of this and made sure he was extra sharp from the start, volleying constantly and forcing the 37-year-old into tough positions. Crouin ran through in no time to seal game one, 11-3.

Rodriguez reverted back to a simple, strutted game as he returned to court. The Colombian hit straight, tight balls and managed to drag the Frenchman away from the middle of the court and thus create his own opportunities to showcase his undoubted skill. Rodriguez, boosted by the Calgary crowd, started to enjoy himself on court and the full Rodriguez repertoire entertained the crowd even more.

After Rodriguez drew level at 1-1, Crouin started to recognise that the Colombian was starting to slow down. The Frenchman re-asserted himself in the middle of the court and used the hold and boast to show Rodriguez the straight ball then whip the boast around to force the No.4 seed to scamper into the front to retrieve the ball.

As well as using the boast, Crouin was able to constantly mix up the paces of his play, using terrific height to keep Rodriguez pinned in the back corner and then pouncing onto the loose responses to fire short balls into the front corners. Crouin took game three 11-9 and earned two match balls at 10-8 in the fourth to reach the final. Despite a revival from Rodriguez to earn himself a game ball, Crouin hung tough and closed the match out with a superb drop to take his place in the final after 85 minutes of quality squash.

“What can I say? Miguel is unbelievable,” said Crouin.

“When you’re on court with Miguel [Rodriguez], you just want to have fun. He’s been doing that on court for 20 years. He’s making the fans happy, you all have a smiles on your faces when he plays. When you’re on court with him and that’s happening, you know you’re in trouble. I tried to break the exhibition-style squash and I managed it very well in the first game, trying not to give him many opportunities to hit fancy shots and as much as I had fun I tried to keep it steady and solid.

“I’m very proud of myself and very honoured to play again with Miguel, it’s our first time on PSA but the second in total and I hope I’m in the shape he is when I’m 37 years old but I’m not sure I’ll still be playing if I’m honest.

“I’m excited for tomorrow, I am the top seed and my goal was to make the final and win the title. once more step to achieve that, Joel and I are very close in the rankings. Joel is desperate to get back to his level since the commonwealth games. Since then he’s had a tough season but Joel is a fighter and hell come out tomorrow and show me what he is like on court. It’ll be a tough one but I’m ready for that. I’ll get some good sleep and rest and hopefully, we can give you a good match tomorrow.”

Result:

[1] Victor Crouin (FRA) bt [4] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 3-1: 11-3, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11 (85m)