Haya Ali Denies Wildcard Todd Heroics In Toronto

The Canadian Women's Open returned to the PSA Squash Tour calendar as the first Silver event of the season got underway in Toronto.

One of two event wildcards and local favourite Nikki Todd was narrowly denied a place in round two, falling to Egypt's Haya Ali in five games on the all-glass court at Brookfield Place. Todd produced immaculate squash in the second and third games of the clash, harnessing the energy of the energetic Toronto crowd.

After taking a 2/1 lead, 34-year-old Todd fought back from 9-5 down in the third game to earn the first match ball of the tie. Ali stayed strong to recover, winning 15-13 to force a decider and silence the home crowd. The energy had sapped from the legs of Todd, who lost the last game 11-5 to send the 20-year-old Egyptian through to the last sixteen. Ali will now take on England's No.6 seed Jasmine Hutton for a spot in the quarter finals.

"I think playing the wildcard in their home event is my worst nightmare" said Ali.

"I'm just glad to be through. She's a really talented player and I knew that playing her here in Canada was never going to be easy. But as I said, I'm just really happy to be through."

Ali's compatriot Rana Ismail scored the first upset of the day as she came through an intense five-set clash with England's Grace Gear to progress over at the Toronto Badminton & Racquets Club. World No.69 Ismail trailed 2/1 in the match but showed her fighting qualities to overturn a 23 place ranking deficit to earn a spot in round two.

The only other upset of the day came in the final match on the all-glass court as England's Saran Nghiem defeated Finland's world No.54 Emilia Soini in four games. Nghiem, ranked 12 places lower, trailed 1/0 but showed her quality in the following games to win in 44 minutes. The 20-year-old from Manchester will now face Egypt's No.4 seed Nada Abbas in round two.

The Cambridge Group of Clubs Classic, a men's Copper event, is also taking place this week in Toronto from the Cambridge Club and Toronto Athletic Club before moving to the glass court for the semi-finals and finals. Day one saw only one upset as Malaysia's Bryan Lim scored a surprise win over England's Finnlay Withington, beating the former British Junior Open champion 3/0 in just 24 minutes.