Tim Landeryou upset top seed and current Canadian Champion Mike Green, 16-14, 8-15, 11-8, to win Racquetball Canada's National Team Selection Event in Brossard, Quebec. With the win Landeryou sweeps this season's National Team Selection Events, as he won the first one back in November in Kelowna, B. C.
Landeryou had a large lead in the first game at 11-6, but Green came back to tie the game at 14 and force extra points to be played. Racquetball Canada matches are best of three games with the first two to 15 but you must win by two points.
Despite having given up the momentum, Landeryou kept it together and was able to finish game one off.
In game two, Landeryou again had a lead at 6-1. At that point, Green began drive serving, a technique he's well known for. Green rode those serves for 13 unanswered points to lead, 14-6, before Landeryou got a couple back. But Green won the game 15-8 to force a tie-breaker.
The tiebreaker was streaky. Landeryou led early at 3-1. Green then put a streak together and led 6-3. Landeryou responded with six point of his own to go up 9-6.
Green took a time out, and got the serve back but could only score point point before Landeryou make it 10-7, match point.
Green fought off that match point with a dramatic splat shot, and got another point. But then Landeryou got the serve back and finished off the game at 11-8, and defeat Green for the first time in his career.
Indeed, Green hasn't been defeated in Canada since November 2010, when he lost in Edmonton to Francis Guillemette.
Reflecting on the win, Landeryou said that he'd gained a lot of experience from losing to Green over the last few years, and he trained for Green's game style.
"I tried to keep him defensive on the serve return," said Landeryou, who added that he felt like he had a good chance as long as he got rallies going. Landeryou primarily used lob serves, a kiss lob to the left side - Green's backhand, and a straight lob tight to the right side wall - Green's forehand - during the match.
"No one's been able to rally with him," said Landeryou, because Green's drive serve has been so effective. "I was just hoping not to get served off the court."
That happened in game two, but not in games one and three, so Landeryou came out on top.
On the women's side, Josée Grand'Maître was a default winner over Frédérique Lambert, as Lambert was not able to play Sunday due to injury. Lambert was playing her first tournament after shoulder surgery in August, and after playing the semi-finals on Saturday, she felt unable to go on Sunday.
Results from this weekend will be combined with results from the first National Team Selection Event that happened in November in Kelowna, B. C. as well as last year's Canadian National Championships to select the players who will represent Canada at the 2013 Pan American Championships in Cali, Colombia in March.
Racquetball Canada National Team Selection Event
Brossard, Quebec
Results Summary
Men's Open
1st: Tim Landeryou d. Mike Green, 16-14, 8-15, 11-8
3rd: Coby Iwaasa d. Pedro Castro, 15-8, 15-10
5th: Samuel Murray d. Nathaniel Husulak, 15-6, 15-7
7th: Lee Connell d. Hugo Laprise, injury forfeit
Women's Open
1st: Josée Grand'Maître d. Frédérique Lambert, injury forfeit
3rd: Christine Richardson d. Michele Morissette, 10-15, 15-8, 15-4
5th: Valerie Fallu d. Nadia Verilli, 10-15, 18-16, 13-11
Follow the bouncing ball….
Sunday, February 3, 2013
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