Team USA’s Olivia Blatchford Clyne claimed her largest career PSA World Tour title, fulfilling her top seeding at the $18,000 Women’s CFO Consulting Services Calgary Squash Week Open, March 10, at the Calgary Winter Club in Canada.
Blatchford Clyne, world No. 19, entered the tournament as the highest ranked player and enjoyed a first round bye to start off the tournament.
After dispatching two 9/16 seeds in her first two matches, Blatchford Clyne met a familiar face in the form of U.S. teammate Olivia Fiechter in the semifinals. Fiechter, a Princeton grad, had upset Canadian four seed and Cornell graduate Danielle Letourneau in the quarterfinals to set up the semifinal encounter with Blatchford Clyne.
The two Americans recently met in the semifinals of the $18,000 Edinburgh Sports Club Open last month, where Blatchford Clyne prevailed in a tight four-game match. The result proved to be the same in Calgary, as Blatchford Clyne won 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4 in forty minutes.
Blatchford Clyne advanced to face Egypt’s three seed and world No. 35 Nada Abbas in the finals. The twenty-six-year-old American recovered from losing the first game 11-8, to clinch the title in four games and thirty-eight minutes 11-6, 11-3, 11-5.
The Calagary Squash Week Open title marks Blatchford Clyne’s sixth career PSA World Tour title, and her first since the 2015 Paderborn Open.
