Improving each time out
Up a point on a top-100 player, Brock Janzer was too focused to hear the murmurs that began to go through the crowd at the Medicine Hat YMCA squash courts Thursday.
As fans of the hometown hero held their breath, the 20year-old orchestrated a couple impressive rallies to take an 87 second-game lead on France’s Baptiste Masotti in the opening round of the Ralph’s Texas Bar Open.
The lead turned into a footnote in a 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-2) loss to the 83rd-ranked player in the Professional Squash Association, everyone including himself knowing it was a close call and a good sign going forward.
“I felt I stuck in there pretty well, almost took that second game,” said Janzer, who’s now in his second year as a fulltime pro. “But I’m happy with how I played.”
Ranked 250th himself, Janzer knows he’s got to learn as much as he can from experiences like the one Thursday. He’s had a few match wins on tour already this season and already feels far more comfortable on court with someone like Masotti.
“I think it’s the pace of play, everything’s happening a lot quicker,” said Janzer. “Over the last year of playing full-time on tour I’ve gained a lot of experience, settled in much more. Before, when you’d play someone who you’re not used to the pace it feels like they’ve got a stranglehold on you. Now you don’t feel as under pressure. Less errors become because of that.”
Masotti made fewer mistakes but also controlled rallies when he needed to, finishing off the last couple points of the key second game with pinpoint smashes to the far corners of the court. Having qualified for the main draw of the world championships in December, he’s on the rise and loves playing in this part of the world.
“We love to play PSA in Canada because the accomodations, the people are very nice here,” said Masotti, in his fourth year on tour at age 22. “They take care of us, they make our stay very pleasant.”
It’ll be more pleasant if Masotti can continue his hot play. He’ll play top seed Youssef Soliman of Egypt in a 6 p.m. quarter-final, after Soliman beat Pakistan’s Israr Ahmed 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-8) Thursday.
In other round-of-16 matches, Masotti’s compatriot Victor Crouin scored a minor upset over Switzerland’s Dimitri Steinmann 3-2 (6-11, 3-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-8), Mexico’s Alfredo Avila overwhelmed Canadian Jake Hooker 3-0 (11-2, 11-3, 11-4), Juan Camilo Vargas of Columbia beat France’s Sebastian Bonmalais 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 12-10) and England’s George Parker got by Switzerland’s Reiko Peter 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-9).
Crouin, Masotti and Bonmalais are close in the rankings themselves and are travelling for this part of the tour schedule. Masotti said it’s important for someone like Janzer to train and match up with better players if he wants to climb the rankings.
“He’s a good player, he’s got good skills but he needs maybe to play more PSA tour, to play with some players who are better than him,” said Masotti. “I’m pretty sure he will be going up.”
Janzer hopes the same thing. He’s had the sponsor’s exemption at the Medicine Hat PSA stop the past few years and is getting closer and closer to an elusive home-court win. He does have a few tour wins this season already.
“On the PSA, when you play there’s no easy matches; everybody’s good,” said Janzer. “It’s tough to get those wins but I’m doing OK, snuck a few out and moving up.”
Play continues with Friday matches starting at 5 p.m., Saturday semifinals beginning at 2 p.m. and Sunday’s final set for 2 p.m. as well.