Brayden Schnur (Pickering, ON) and Katherine Sebov (Toronto, ON) are the remaining Canadians in action in the Winnipeg and Saskatoon singles main draws. The men are competing on the courts of the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club at the Winnipeg National Bank Challenger which offers $54,160 in total prize money. The women’s ITF tournament, which offers $25,000 in total prize money, is being played at the Riverside Badminton and Tennis Club in Saskatoon.

Schnur, seeded third, breezed into the semi-finals with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Maxime Cressy of the United States. The 24 year old will now face another American, Daniel Nguyen, on Saturday with a place in the final on the line. For his part, Nguyen defeated Antonie Hoang (No .2) of France 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 to advance. Saturday’s other semi-final will see Slovakia’s Norbert Gombos (No. 6) and Hiroki Moriya (No. 15) of Japan go head to head. Gombos sealed a routine 6-4, 6-2 win over China’s Zhe Li, while Moriya comfortably saw off the challenge of Turkey’s Cem Ilkel 6-4, 6-2 in their respective quarter-finals matches.

In doubles action, Canadian Adil Shamasdin (Toronto, ON) and Hunter Reese of the United States (No. 1) defeated Li and Moriya (No. 3) 6-3, 6-2 to reach the final. Fellow Canadian Peter Polansky and partner Darian King (No. 4) were 7-5, 7-6 victors over Hans Hach Verdugo and Dennis Novikov.

In Saskatoon, Sebov (No. 1) made short work of her quarter-final match against Olivia Tjandramulia of Australia, winning 6-3, 6-4. In the semi-finals, the Canadian will take on Marcela Zacarias of Mexico, who defeated the United States’ Hanna Chang 6-4, 7-5. On the other side of the draw, Haruka Kaji (No. 8) beat Madison Westby of the United States 6-3, 6-4 to setup a semi-final clash with Maddison Inglis (No. 2), who brought an end to Canadian Carol Zhao’s run thanks to a convincing 6-1, 6-1 victory.

In the doubles semi-finals, Canada’s Stacey Fung and Ingrid Neel of the United States lost 4-6, 6-1, 10-5 to Kaji and Momoko Kobori (No .1). Meanwhile, Canadian Louise Kwong and Kennedy Shaffer were beaten 6-1, 6-1 by Chieh-Yu Hsu and Zacarias.

(Feature photo: David Mahussier)

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