Corey Blatchford from Saskatoon advanced to the semi-finals of the ITF Futures USTA Southwest Desert Wheelchair Classic beating fellow countryman Eric Gilbert from Montreal in the Quarter Final. Blatchford, currently ranked #144 in the world, had to concede defeat to the rising star Adam Kellerman by a score of 1/6 1/6. The young Aussie turned out to be a bit of a “Canadian killer” since he beat Phillipe Bedard (Montreal) and Joel Dembe (Toronto) in the pervious rounds. Kellerman, who studies at the University of Arizona, went on to clinch the tournament title by beating the former top 20 player John Rydberg (USA) in a disputed final by the score of 6/4 4/6/ 7/6.
“ I felt a bit rusty going into the tournament but am quite pleased with outcome” said Blatchford after the match against Kellerman. Blatchford had been plagued by a leg injury over the last season “I am finally pain free. It sure feels good to be able to train and compete at full capacity again. My goal for the season is to break into the top 30 ”. Corey has been ranked as high as 35th in the world in 2009.
Yann Mathieu from Trois-Rivieres, who had just come off a tournament win in Mexico the week before, could not repeat his strong performance from Puerto Vallarta. He narrowly lost to Rydberg in the ¼ finals 6/3 4/6 7/5.
Next stop on the Canadian player’s tournament schedule will be their first appearance on home soil in 2011 at the Windsor Classic (March 3 -6).The ITF 3 Series will be played at the Parkside Tennis Club. All top Canadian men will be competing in Windsor.
For a full review of the results of the USTA Southwest Desert Wheelchair Classic please click on the link below:
http://tennislink.usta.com/TOURNAMENTS/Draws/EventDraw.aspx?T=100895&E=1&D=M&S=F
