BVAC Women’s Open 2023 Quarter Finals: Garcia Downs Top Seed To Gatecrash Semi-Finals

Mexico’s Diana Garcia produced a terrific performance in the third quarter final of the day to overcome a 42 ranking place deficit and beat top seed and World No.47 Enora Villard to each the final four in the Expression Networks BVAC Women’s Open 2023.

Villard looked strong in the opening game as she hit crisply to the back corners and heaped the pressure onto Garcia which resulted in poor replies from the Mexican, allowing Villard to take game one 11-6.

Garcia was not deterred however and came back onto court with a great attitude and started to move up the court and try to take time away from Villard. The game plan was working as the Colley kills and boasts were causing the top seed all kinds of trouble. Garcia ran through to take the final three games 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 in 32 minutes.

“I feel amazing! I know she is a really good player, so I’m just so happy to win,” said Garcia.

“I tried to play fast and move her, I wanted to volley where I could and I thought the court was quite dead at the front. I am trying to make it to the World Championships. I have two other 10k events coming up and I want to do well in all of those and here this week to hopefully make the World Championships.”

No.3 seed Marie Stephan got the quarter finals underway with a win over England’s Alicia Mead in four games. The Frenchwoman struggled to adjust to the glass court in the opening game which allowed Mead to capitalise on loose balls and pull away on the scoreboard to win game one 11-7.

After losing that first game, the higher seed found her range on the court and it was now Mead who was struggling to read some bounces in the back corners and making errors, which was only giving Stephan confidence. She confidently took the following three games 11-7, 11-0, 11-8 in 33 minutes.

Kaitlyn Watts produced a terrific performance in the following match as she overcame No.4 seed Zeina Zein in straight games to reach the semi-finals. The pace of the game was extremely hight throughout, with both players showcasing excellent movement to pull off unbelievable retrievals. After winning the opener 11-7, the New Zealand No.2 hung tough in the following games to win both 11-9 and book her place in the final four.

Home favourite Nicole Bunyan completed the semi-final line-up as she came through a tricky contest with Hong Kong’s Cheng Nga Ching to keep home hopes alive in the Challenger 10 event.

Bunyan’s solid technique was allowing her to put pressure on Ching and deal with the attacks that she was facing herself. After Bunyan took the opening game 11-7, the Hong Kong player responded with great shots to the front two corners and made life difficult for the home favourite.

With the score level at 1-1, the pair produced a huge third game battle with all corners in use and terrific rallies on show. The game’s momentum changed constantly, especially as the game reached a tiebreak. Ching saved four game balls but wasn’t able to convert on her ow game balls, as Bunyan closed the games out 15-13. Bunyan took the fourth game 11-8 to close out the match and reach the semis.

Expression Networks BVAC Women’s Open 2023: Quarter final results

[2] Nicole Bunyan (CAN) bt Cheng Nga Ching (HKG) 3-1: 11-7, 10-12, 15-13, 11-8 (45m)

[6] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) bt [4] Zeina Zein (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 (32m)

[3] Marie Stephan (FRA) bt [8] Alicia Mead (ENG) 3-1: 7-11, 11-7, 11-0, 11-8 (33m)

Diana Garcia (MEX) bt [1] Enora Villard (FRA) 3-1: 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 (32m)

Expression Networks BVAC Women’s Open 2023: Semi-Final Draw

[6] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) v Diana Garcia (MEX)

[2] Nicole Bunyan (CAN) v [3] Marie Stephan (FRA)