Delierre and Schnell Lead the Way on Home Soil in Canada

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Canadian duo Shawn Delierre and Andrew Schnell, the country’s number one and two ranked players, respectively, were cheered on by a partizan home crowd in Winnipeg, Canada as they both achieved first round victories in the Qualico Manitoba Open, PSA M15 tournament.

World No.53 Delierre went up against Nigeria’s Babatunde Ajagbe in the opening round and secured comfortable passage into the quarter-final after taking the victory in straight games courtesy of an 11-5, 13-11, 11-7 triumph.

The 33-year-old’s reward is a quarter-final clash against Nathan Lake after the Englishman defeated wildcard Matthew Serediak 3-0.

Schnell, on the other hand, was made to work hard for his victory as he overturned a 2-1 deficit against experienced New Zealander Martin Knight to set up a next round meeting against second seed Karim Ali Fathi who disposed of Canadian qualifier David Baillargeon.

Elsewhere, tournament favourite Alfredo Avila came out on top of his encounter with Eric Galvez in an all-Mexican affair and will face Chris Hanson in a last-eight showdown after the American defeated Joe Chapman.

Christopher Gordon and Campbell Grayson will meet in the round’s other fixture thanks to respective wins over Nick Sachvie and Leandro Romiglio.

Results – First Round: Qualico Manitoba Open
[1] Alfredo Avila (MEX) bt Eric Galvez (MEX) 3-1: 11-4, 4-11, 11-6, 11-3
[6] Chris Hanson (USA) bt Joe Chapman (IVB) 3-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-1
[5] Christopher Gordon (USA) bt [Q] Nick Sachvie (CAN) 3-1: 11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6
[3] Campbell Grayson (NZL) bt [Q] Leandro Romiglio (ARG) 3-1: 11-8, 13-11, 8-11, 11-5
[4] Shawn Delierre (CAN) bt [Q] Babatunde Ajagbe (NGR) 3-0: 11-5, 13-11, 11-7
[7] Nathan Lake (ENG) bt [Q] Matthew Serediak (CAN) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-6
[8] Andrew Schnell (CAN) bt Martin Knight (NZL) 3-2: 11-5, 11-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6
[2] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt [Q] David Baillargeon (CAN) 3-0: 11-6, 11-7, 11-7

Draw – Quarter-Final
[1] Alfredo Avila (MEX) v [6] Chris Hanson (USA)
[6] Christopher Gordon (USA) v [3] Campbell Grayson (NZL)
[4] Shawn Delierre (CAN) v [7] Nathan Lake (ENG)
[8] Andrew Schnell (CAN) v [2] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY)

By James Hall