BVAC Women’s Open 2023 Semi-Finals: Home Favourite Bunyan To Face Giant Killer Garcia For The Title

Home favourite and No.2 seed Nicole Bunyan will face giant killer Diana Garcia from Mexico in the final of the Expression Networks BVAC Women’s Open 2023 after the pair beat France’s Marie Stephan and Kaitlyn Watts respectively.

The two surprise semi-finalists opened the day’s play at Bow Valley Square as Diana Garcia and Kaitlyn Watts took to the court in a bid to reach the final. The Mexican came out the blocks at a frightening pace, taking the ball extremely early and pushing Watts into all four corners and forcing the New Zealander into some extreme movements.

After losing the opening game 11-5, Watts responded in strong style and started to step up the court and put her own pressure onto Garcia. Watts ran out to 8-3 and looked sure to be drawing level in the match, but Garcia had other ideas. The 30-year-old got back to winnings ways and impressively took the next eight points to steal the game from Watts, winning 11-8.

The second game scoreline was repeated in the third game as Garcia booked her place in her second final of 2023. The resistance from Watts was strong in patches but the Mexican was too aggressive in the right areas on the day.

Bunyan came out to a warm reception at Bow Valley Square as the Calgary crowd were eager to see a home finalist. The No.2 seed used her strong movement and solid technique to move the ball into difficult positions for Stephan to have to deal with in the opening game. She ran through to take the game 11-8 and draw first blood in the tie.

Stephan stepped up in the following game and kept her squash simple but effective as she moved from strength to strength to earn a 7-0 lead. Bunyan started to mount her comeback and looked more confident attacking the front corners with nothing to lose. All of a sudden, the Canadian was back to 9-9. A stroke for each player sent the game into a tiebreak, which Bunyan managed to play the better of the two and take the game 13-11.

Stephan’s frustration at losing game two was evident as she returned to the court in the third game. Bunyan was calm and collected however and continued to work the ball into good areas and set herself up with two match balls at 10-8. A stroke and a good squeeze on the side wall from Stephan forced another tiebreak, but the same rallies happened again in the next two rallies but this time, Bunyan was the beneficiary as she claimed a place in the final.

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

Diana Garcia (MEX) bt [6] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (32m)

[2] Nicole Bunyan (CAN) bt [3] Marie Stephan (FRA) 3-0: 11-8, 13-11, 12-10 (42m)

Expression Networks BVAC Women’s Open 2023: Final Draw

Diana Garcia (MEX) v [2] Nicole Bunyan (CAN)