Cindy Merlo (SUI) playing Emilia Soini (FIN) in the quarter finals of the 2019 NASH Cup.

Thursday Match Results 2019

We’re down to the final four on both sides….and there were some incredible matches getting us there. The NASH Cup included some other event today including a Pro/AM Doubles competition won by Connor Turk and Craig Hall – Thanks to Phill Stables and Trevor Tyson for organizing.

For the third year the NASH Cup had four professionals down to visit Dan VanMoorsel at the Maple City Squash Club in beautiful Chatham Ontario. A crowd of 40+ were treated to a pair of singles exhibition matches followed by a men v. women softball doubles show. A big thank you to PSA members Eva Fertekova (“with a K”); Ali Loke; Alex Noakes; and Ben Coates for their participation. Thanks to Squash Ontario for their help in making this happen. And thank you to Dan and Shane for hosting.

The crowd included a visit from Mayor Darren Canniff showing just how much squash means in this city of 44,000.

Thursday Results

Court 2 4:30pm [1] Melissa Alves (FRA; 45) bt. [7] Nikki Todd (CAN; 62) – 3-1 – 11-3; 11-5; 7-11; 14-12

Court 1 4:30pm [1] Vikram Malhotra (IND; 63) bt. [7] Reiko Peter (SUI; 116) – 3-2 – 11-6; 6-11; 11-8; 9-11; 11-3

Court 1 5:45pm [8] Donna Lobban (AUS; 64) bt. [3] Enora Villard (FRA; 55) – 3-0 – 11-6; 11-6; 11-4

Court 2 5:45pm [4] Leonel Cardenas (MEX;79) bt. [5] Christopher Binnie (JAM; 96) – 3-0 – 16-14; 11-7; 12-10

Court 2 7:00pm [4] Emilia Soini (FIN; 57) bt. [10] Cindy Merlo (SUI; 74) – 3-2 – 9-11; 9-11; 11-7; 11-9; 11-7

Court 1 7:00pm [3] Alfredo Avila (MEX; 71) bt. [8] Cameron Seth (CAN; 126) – 3-0 – 12-10; 11-9; 11-9

Court 1 8:15pm [2] Jasmine Hutton (ENG;54) bt. [13] Alison Thomson (SCO;78) – 3-1 – 8-11; 11-8; 11-4; 11-5

Court 2 8:15pm [2] Auguste Dussourd (FRA; 68) bt. [6] Lyell Fuller (ENG; 108) – 3-1 – 12-10; 11-7; 5-11; 11-5

Thursday Quarter Final Match Summaries (*Including editors pre-match notes)

Court 2 4:30pm [1] Melissa Alves (FRA; 45) vs. [7] Nikki Todd (CAN; 62)

Melissa Alves gained last minute entry to the 2018 NASH Cup ranked 194th in the world. She proved that ranking meant nothing and made it to the quarter finals.
After a great year in the PSA Melissa returns as the tournament’s top seed looking to be the first French Athlete to claim the NASH Cup trophy.
Nikki Todd is making her 7th NASH Cup appearance (10th if you include the times there was no women’s draw and she played in the amateur). She has made it to the Semi-Finals or better 6 times.
Nikki and Melissa faced off in the 2018 NASH Cup (second round) with Melissa winning 3-1.

The first few points started off with good length rallies by both players. Alves found the cross-court-return-of-serve-nick early on and cashed it in consistently for three points in game one. Midway through the game, both players started pushing to the front of the court, but it proved a more successful strategy for Alves as she won 11-4.

Early in the second game, Todd struggled to find her length, as Alves switched sides and started sniping the front left for several outright winners. Todd put in a valiant effort to stay with Alves as she stretched her lead. An errant lob from Todd’s racquet went out high to give Alves game two 11-5.

As the players entered the court to start the third game, the hometown crowd came alive with enthusiastic cheers of “Nicky”, “Nicky”, “Nicky”. Todd strikes early scoring first. Alves tries to even the early score with the cross-court-return-of-serve-nick, that worked well in the first game, but this time rubber meets tin. The lead switches hands several times, with a few unforced errors thrown in and we end up at 5-5. Alves attempts another cross-court-return-of-serve-nick, but once again the tin echoes loudly to the delight of the crowd. The rally’s lengthen as both players assume a more conservative game plan. The new strategy works out well for Todd getting the upper hands as she wins this game 11-7.

Game four begins with an attentive crowd. Todd takes a convincing 5-0 lead, as momentum shifts in her direction. The crowds spirit rises as it sees a fifth game peek over the horizon. Todd is hitting her best cross-court length of the match, and Alves is starting to look tired. A few errors from Todd, and some determined play from Alves forces the score to 8-9. The crowd quiets, as one of the longest rallies of the match ensues. Todd wins it with a superb cross-court nick. The crowd celebrates. Alves has yet to give up though, as she fights back twinning the score at 10-10. Todd goes to 11-10, then Alves grits through and levels it again at 11-11. Once more Todd takes the upper hand at 12-11. Then the unforced errors sneak in as the score gets to 12-12. Forcing Alves well out of position and left with an easy drive to the back right corner, Todd pounds the ball into the tin. Alves doesn’t let her first lead of the game disappear as she closes off the match 14-12.

-Written by Chris Campbell

Court 1 4:30pm [1] Vikram Malhotra (IND; 63) vs. [7] Reiko Peter (SUI; 116)

Vikram Malhotra is returning for his second NASH Cup after losing to Chris Binnie in the 2018 Semi-Finals. A win tonight could lead to a rematch.
After the 2018 NASH Cup Vikram continued to the Aspin Cup in Charlottetown which he won. Reiko was his quarter final opponent and he took the match 3-1.
Reiko Peter returns for his second NASH Cup. The last was in 2015. He’s been playing PSA since 2006 and has suggested that the NASH Cup could be one of his final stops.

Game 1… Malholtra’s length and quickness was too much for Peter. Malholtra jumped out to a quick lead and never relinquished it.

Game 2… Peter played better squash this match, decreased his mistakes and made Malholtra attack more. This resulted in Malholtra making a few unforced errors

Game 3… the game began with both players fighting for control and momentum. Both players look like they are searching to find their games. Both players are making great shots and neither player builds a lead by more than 1 point until 10-8 for Malholtra. On game ball, Peter chased the ball into all 4 corners until Malholtra hit a dying cross that Peter couldn’t return to win 11-8.

Game 4… Game 4 was a back and forth battle, both players hitting great shots and covering the court exceptionally well. Tied 9-9 Malholtra gets called for a tough stroke on a forehand drop and then hits tin in the next rally. Peter wins 11-9.

Game 5… Malholtra comes out strong, jumping out to a 4-1 lead. Malholtra continues his aggressive working rallies, moving Peter around. Malholtra proved to be too much in that game 11-3 to win 3-2.

-Written by Mark McLean

Court 1 5:45pm [8] Donna Lobban (AUS; 64) vs. [3] Enora Villard (FRA; 55)

This is Donna’s first NASH Cup appearance. She has been ranked as high as 13th in the PSA.
Enora is back for her 3rd NASH Cup and this is her first quarter final appearance.
These players have no PSA experience against each other.

The match started at a very fast pace. Donna was controlling the T and attacking every ball she could. She volleyed a lot to the front, putting Enora under a lot of pressure. She won the first game confortably 11-6. The second and third were similar to the first game, Donna winning 11-6 and 11-4.

Enora tried to find solutions by using height or attacking first to give herself more time, but Donna was too good on the day. She was picking up most of Enora’s attacks and finishing off the rallies with a winner. Great performance overall from the Aussie.

-Written by Marie Stephan with payment in Cliff Bars

Court 2 5:45pm [5] Christopher Binnie (JAM; 96) vs. [4] Leonel Cardenas (MEX;79)

Chris knows he had a shot at the 2018 NASH Cup and is looking to take the title this time. He took down world #1 Junior Mostafa Asal, who is now ranked in the worlds top 30, before falling to Alfredo Avila in the final. This is Chris’s 3rd NASH Cup appearance.
Leonel is at London Squash for the first time. He’s favour by rank, but it’s going to come down to how the two playing styles mix
These players have not met before in PSA competitionWhat a match! If you missed this one folks I feel sorry for you. Chris Binnie “the real Jamaican no fakin’’” VS the “Mexican cobra” Cardenas, playing for a birth in the semi final.

Game one. Cardenas strikes first winning a stroke right off the bat, but Binnie responds right back with perfect weight and length. 1-1. Back and forth they go all the way to 9 all! Binnie goes up 11-10 with a game ball but faces some controversial calls as the next few rallies go to decisions upstairs. Wouldn’t want to be the ref in this barn burner. Cardenas takes it 16-14! Wow, what an edgy game!

Game 2 begins much the same as the first. The gladiators trade blows up to 7 all. A small collision sees Binnie go down and there’s sweat everywhere. Court service attendant Gary Sullivan shockingly refuses his duties to mop up the puddles leaving it up to the pros. The crowd is not impressed. Cardenas hits the gas and this one ends 11-7! 2-1 for the cobra!

Game 3! Will Cardenas close it out or will Binnie respond? At 3-2 another collision and Binnie goes down again after a knee to the calf. Again, Sullivan fails to respond. The crowd is shocked! Sullivan is normally so reliable. Binnie shows the crowd his best Paul Coll impression with a massive dive but loses the rally and Cardenas closes to 7-8. And then we’re back to the match being decided by call after call. Matches ties at 10 all…11-10 Cardenas, and then a massive stoke call goes Cardenas way and he upsets Binnie 12-10.

Perhaps the match of the tourney so far!

3-0 Cardenas

-Reported by Gabe Boldt.

Court 2 7:00pm [4] Emilia Soini (FIN; 57) vs. [10] Cindy Merlo (SUI; 74)

Emilia and Cindy are both first time NASH Cup participants, and both enter near the best ranking of their carriers. Both have appeared in 2 PSA finals, but neither has claimed a title yet
These players have not met before in PSA competition

Cindy Jumps out to 4-0 lead, both trying to find their length but there are a few errors from Emilia. Emilia begins to find her groove and comes back to 4-5 before a few beautiful winners by Cindy. 6-7 and both players seem to be testing out the refs looking for strokes, finally on the 5th try of this point a stroke is awarded, 8-6 Cindy. Stroke to Emilia followed by a no let, all of a sudden it’s 8-8. Emilia showcases her front court touch with a dying cross drop to go up 9-8. Cindy claws back with tight dying length to take the first 11-9.

Second game starts with both players pretty even . Emilia then leaves a few mid-court for Cindy, who takes full advantage to jump to an 8-5 lead. Emilia visibly upset with the time she is giving Cindy to play shots gets a few points back on front court touch. Cindy grinds it out, goes up 10-8. Good length by Emilia, 9-10, followed by a sneaky boast by Cindy to go up 2-0.

Game 3 Cindy has come out hitting hard and low, but unfortunately meeting the top of the tin. She aims a little higher on the front wall and Emilia takes advantage to slot in the drop and go up 5-1. Back to hard low for Cindy, clips the tin again. 6-2 Emilia. Once again Cindy grinds it out, and with a little help from her frame gets back to 6-7. Another quick tin off the serve from Cindy, followed by a nick from Emilia 10-6. 11-7 game Emilia.

Game 4 starts much like game 3 with errors from Cindy plus a winning drop from Emilia 4-0. A little back and forth brings it to 7-4 Emilia. Cindy is visibly frustrated as she asks for a let after minimal interference and gets turned down. Next rally she pops one into the middle onto Emilia’s sweet spot, drop winner. 10-4 and Emilia seems to be pretty comfortable, but Cindy throws in a deadly boast, she’s not done with this game yet. A few errors, winners and fist pumps later 9-10. Saved by a stroke, we’re going 5 games.

Game 5 – not much difference between the two to start. Each is attacking every chance they get and trying to move the other from corner to corner. Starts to get a little chippy at 6-4 Emilia with some lets. The attacking seems to be taking its toll on Cindy more than Emilia and she’s up 8-4 with front court winners. An unforced error where Cindy tries to attack back, 9-4 Emilia. Stroke to Cindy, followed by a tin on a return of serve, 6-9. Perfect volley drop from Emilia and she has match ball. Stroke to Cindy on a ball that hit the front corner crack and popped into middle. A few shots into the next rally Cindy hits the tin on a volley drop, and that’s the match.

-Written by Laura Savage

Court 1 7:00pm [3] Alfredo Avila (MEX; 71) vs. [8] Cameron Seth (CAN; 126)

Alfredo first came to the NASH Cup in 2010 as a junior and returned for the first time in 2018. He was a finalist in 2010 and champion in 2018. He’s looking to be the 3rd player to take the trophy twice.
Cameron Seth is a rising Canadian with something to prove. This is his 5th NASH Cup and his first appearance in the quarter finals.
These players have not met before in PSA competition

Game 1…. As a sideline reporter, I’m tired after two rallies. Both players seem content to rally and hit length. Ball goes back and forth over and over. At 8-8, neither seems to want to adjust strategy. If you were watching left wall length drills, you could replace that video for the majority of this game. At 11-10, Avila hits a backhand volley that is just outside of Seth’s reach. Avila 12-10.

Game 2… This game starts as the first was, long rallies with length. As the game progressed, Avila started moving Seth side to side and started to play some more attacking shots. Avila jumps out to a 7-2 lead and Seth never had enough to overcome the deficit.

Game 3… Seth comes out with more pace and power and mixing up his shots. This lead to Seth having a quick 5-1 lead. Avila dug deep to get it level back at 8-8. The players exchanged unforced errors to get to 9-9. A stroke for Avila to make it 10-9 and then finished it off with a backhand volley drop. Avila 11-9 and a 3-0 win.

-By Mark McLean

Court 1 8:15pm [2] Jasmine Hutton (ENG;54) vs. [13] Alison Thomson (SCO;78)

Jasmine returns for her second NASH Cup. In 2018 she was taken by surprise in the opening round against Melissa Alves, but so far in 2019 she has owned the court.
Ali Thomson returns for her 5th NASH Cup and second appearance in the quarter finals.
These players have not met before in PSA competition

“1st game started at a high pace with both players looking to assert themselves. Generally Jazz was trying to initiate more positively with straight attacks but was a bit tight and made some errors. Ally stuck in there and defended well to take the first. 2nd game Jazz continued with trying to initiate but this time seemed more relaxed and looked to put Ally into areas rather than win the point straight out. As a result, Ally was put under a lot of pressure and forced into more errors to let Jazz equalize the match 1-1.

3rd game started with both players maintaining a blistering pace. Both moved each other around the court well and made some incredible retrievals, especially Ally who was willing to really throw herself into the corners. High octane stuff all round. Jazz, however, managed to continue on from the previous game with initiating straight attacks with less errors which forced Ally to defend and hit some unfortunate tins. Thus, Jazz put herself in front in the match 2-1. In the fourth game, Ally became more effective on the counter attack compared to previous games. Whenever Jazz put the ball in slightly loose, Ally did a better job of getting on the ball early and counter attacking with pace. However, in the end Jazz was able to be more positive and, in particular, attacked more accurately on the follow-up volley so she closed out the match 3-1. Great stuff from both. “

-Written by Anna Kimberley with payment in beer

Court 2 8:15pm [6] Lyell Fuller (ENG; 108) vs. [2] Auguste Dussourd (FRA; 68)

This is Lyell’s 4th NASH Cup and first time to the Semi-Finals. Lyell has 2 PSA titles.
Dussourd joins the NASH Cup for the first time. His current ranking of 66 (Sept) is within one of his best level. He has 6 PSA titles to his name and will continue to Charlottetown next week as the #1 seed.
Lyell and Auguste faced off in opening round of the AJ Bell PSA World Championships with Auguste winning 3-1.
Further back they matched up in a 2014 Semi-Final where Auguste pulled out a tight 3-2 win.

Match reporter Stingray Hanebury back in action. This report is being written on an iPhone (think different).

The match starts with Fuller storming out of the proverbial gate. What kind of gate you ask, I suppose one that leads to a squash court. He goes up 5–1. Dussourd looks a bit out of form compared to his match last night. He is wearing a lot of neon green, so that’s something.

As the first game progresses, Dussourd finds his form. He brings the score back to 7-7. The rallies are high paced and very even, with the only difference being a few unforced errors by Fuller. At 8-7 Dussourd trips leading to him sliding across the left court. Local legend, Gary Sullivan, is encouraged to dry the floors by a chanting crowd, but he claims an injury time out and sits in his chair, sipping a cold Sleeman.

Near the end of the first game the players start experiencing a lot of friction around the mid court. Strange how that always happens when things get tight. Down 10-9 game ball Dussourd hits a roll out nick that gets the crowd cheering. However in our defense, the members here don’t see many intentional nicks during their day to day matches. Dussourd wins the next two rallies and wins the first game.

The second game sees Dussourd starts to run away with it. He gets up 5-2 and then 6-2 after a wonderful volley roll out nick. The local members have no idea what happened. As the game progresses, Dussourd starts to run away with it. He gets up 8-3 and is looking very calm and confident. His French entourage outside the court are extremely talkative, but this reporter never paid attention in French class and has no idea what they’re saying.

At 10-5 up, Fuller hits a deceptive trickle blast from the front left that causes Dussourd to half dive half slide into the shot. Fuller wins the point and a good laugh is had by them. Despite the high intensity of the match, the comradery is apparent. Dussourd wins the second game.

This intermission is brought to you by, once again, beer. The cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.

The third game has Dussourd run up a 5-2 lead fairly fast. Fuller responds with some very clinical shots. Just as Dussourd seems to be in control, Fuller tightens up his game and runs away with a string of points. He ends up winning 9 straight points to take the game 11-5 This intermission is brought to you by Joe Longo. If you don’t know him, you don’t know fun.

Fourth game starts and the crowd is split on who they think will win. Half think Dussourd, half think Fuller, one person thinks Avila, but they’ve had a few pints and don’t really know what’s going on.

Dussourd gets a good lead in this game to go up 6-2. Up 7-4, Dussourd tries to play a cheeky shot through his legs and misses. Down 9-0, Fuller goes for a nick off the serve. Dussourd retrieves it (maybe?), but Fuller is not so sure. He asks for a let and the refs concede. Dussourd responds with two good rallies to win the match.

-Written by “Stingray” Brad Hanebury with payment in beer