Fall Selection Event, Day 1

So the first selection event of the season is underway and even with some good early round matchups, for the most part things have gone according to seedings. With the exception of Francis Guillemette (9) beating Pedro Castro (8) all top 8 seeds advanced through to the quarter finals.

Perhaps surprisingly, none of the other 16s matches went to a tiebreaker, which I probably would have lost money on. Lee Connell (7) beat Coby Iwasaa (10) in 2 fairly easy games. Credit to Lee, who played solid throughout, keeping his intensity and focus steady, which everyone knows can sometimes be an issue for him. He simply wouldn't let Coby get into the match and moves on.

The other big matchup for me was James Landeryou (5) vs Eric Desrochers (12). Eric, who's ranking probably doesn't reflect his playing ability, has played and trained much more consistently (I've been told) in preparation for this season and watching him play tonight certainly was indicative of that. After a nail-bitingly close first game (which Jamie took 16-14), the second saw Eric roar out to a huge 10-2 lead. Jamie took a time out and switched the serve to a lob Z to the left (backhand) side. Eric, having a large headstart in the game, chose to play defensively and stay back to hit ceiling balls on the serve return. This allowed James to get back into the game and chip away slowly. Personally, I'm not sure why after the first few points he gave up Eric didn't choose to play more aggressively but after a few changes of serve Jamie continued to score points and eventually levelled the match at 11-11. Now it was time for Eric to take a timeout. Unfortunately it didn't change his strategy afterwards and Jamie eventually scored 4 more points to take the game and the match.

This means that there is a sibling matchup in the quarterfinals of a selection event! I'm not sure if this has happened before but I think it's pretty cool. Obviously I'm not psyched to play my own brother in the draw but the silver lining is one of us will definitely be in the semis tomorrow afternoon! I'm looking forward to the match, and the opportunity. Hopefully it will be a good match and I will play well. The other matchups include Mike Green (1) vs Francis Guillemette (9), Kris Odegard (3) vs Nathaniel Husulak (6), and Vincent Gagnon (2) vs Lee Connell (7). There will definitely be some good matches but for now I'm signing off as it will be an early morning for me!

Tim