Tonight was the 1st round of the 2016 Carol Weymuller Main draw. The
top half of the draw played their matches this evening and the bottom
half plays tomorrow. All the qualifiers randomly ended up in the top
half of the draw.
It was an all Egyptian affair on the championship court for the first
match between the world #1, world champion and current Weymuller
champion Nour El Sherbini, against qualifier and world #37 Kanzy Emad
El Defrawy. Nour and Kanzy have previously played four times in PSA
events and while Kanzy has never beaten Nour, they have not played
since 2012 so maybe Kanzy will have some tricks up her sleeve for the
very in form Nour.
The match started with a great pace with both players hitting some
great kills as they settled into the match. The points stayed pretty
even but Nour seemed to have the edge on the control of the rallies and
a little more precision and purpose. Kanzy certainly put it all out
there and even did a huge dive at 5-7 down but eventually lost the
point. The points went back and forth but Nour was just that bit
tighter and found the spaces on the courts so well. Nour went through
to win the first 11/8.
Second game started in a similar way back and forth between the players
until the middle of the game. There were a lot of lets and Kanzy was a
having a little bit of a problem clearing the ball. She was starting to
look as if the qualification matches over the last 2 days had taken
their toll on her. Nour surged ahead again with an array of great
holds, and inch perfect boasts and drops. Nour was making such great
tactical choices and was so precise with each shot and hitting her
targets relentlessly, making it very tough for Kanzy to really find any
constant rhythm. Nour took the second 11/6.
In the third game Nour was in fire until 8-2 looking so calm and
focused. It looked as if Kanzy was done and was not prepared to grind
the rallies and be patient. She gave Nour far too many openings which
you cannot afford to do with Nour. The after a second huge dive which
lead Kanzy to win the point, it seemed to ignite something inside Kanzy
to give a big push. Nour seemed to step off the gas and made a few
errors and before we knew it the score was 8-9. A backhand drop error
at the most crucial time gave Nour her one and only match ball and she
went through to win 11/8, 11/6, 11/8 in 37 minutes.
Nour said after her match “I’m feeling good. The 1st round is never
easy and Kanzy is never easy. I haven’t played Kanzy in a long time but
we used to play all the time in the juniors since we were 7 years old!
It’s my first time to play on the court this tournament and it’s hard
to connect between two big tournaments, so I just wanted to go in and
get used to the court. The last game I got used to the court more and
try more shots. Maybe I relaxed a little and went for my shots. I was
trying to try all the shots to get used to the court but maybe it
wasn’t the best time to try them!!
Second match on the championship court was 2009 and 2010 Weymuller
Champion and world #17 Jenny Duncalf against USA’s Olivia Blatchford
who fought her way through the qualifying winning two epic five set
matches. Olivia ranking is world #32 and Jenny and Olivia have only
played once earlier this year in Cleveland and Olivia managed cause an
upset and beat Jenny in a close 3-2.
It would be interesting to see if the last two days have taken their
toll a little on Olivia or if they have just boosted her confidence.
Olivia started the match so well, she was instantly keeping the T and
hitting such quality tight lengths that Jenny was forced to step back
and had nothing to hit. Olivia stormed through with only glimpses of
Jenny’s amazing touch poking its head here and there. Olivia won the
first 11/5.
In the second Jenny gave a push at the beginning to control the middle
and get Olivia behind her. She took a 4-2 lead, but it was so difficult
to contain the lively, energetic Olivia this evening, and soon she was
back in control and was hitting some amazingly tight backhands that
just clung to the wall, which created so many great openings for her.
So not surprisingly, it was a perfect backhand drive that gave Olivia
game ball to go through to win the second 11/6.
The third was even better for Olivia and she was looking so fresh, with
not even a hint of tiredness from her previous two five setters in the
qualifying rounds. She really looked like she was having fun out there!
Olivia was basically unstoppable and Jenny seemed to run out of ideas
of how to stay in the match. Olivia kept the pressure on and went
through to give herself a much deserved place in the Weymuller quarter
finals for the first time. The final score was 11/5, 11/6, 11/6 in 29
minutes.
An incredibly happy Olivia said “My dad always used to say ‘act the way
you want to feel’…so I did! I thought that if I go out there and
execute the game plan which was to go deep ad attack short when I
could, win or lose I would have to be proud. I watched Jenny at this
tournament years ago beating Natalie Grainger and I was in awe with the
way she struck the ball. It was a pleasure to play her on the court
that I first saw her play….Yay to the rest day tomorrow!!”
The next match on was between England’s Sarah-Jane Perry who is world
#11 against Egyptian’s Mariam Wetwally who is currently ranked 31 in
the world. They have only played once in the British Open earlier this
year and Sarah-Jane was the victor but there is no pressure now on
these qualifiers so you never know how the match will play out.
SJ started the match steadily and in control and managed to keep
control of the middle of the court. She really used her height to her
advantage and made Mariam move around her and the court where possible
help her gain the 4-0 lead. The middle of the game Mariam hit some
lovely short shorts but she didn’t manage to get her rhythm. SJ went
through to win the first 11/6.
SJ kept the great steady squash coming and was using the lob and
variation in pace so well to control the match pace. Mariam seemed to
want a faster pace but SJ focused on sticking to her game plan.
SJ went through to win the second 11/4.
The third game followed the same tone and Mariam was starting to look
very tired and disconcerted as SJ stuck to her guns and didn’t waver.
SJ went through to take the third winning the match 11/6, 11/4, 11/4 in
27 minutes.
A smiling SJ said afterwards “I was happy with how I finished the
match. Since I was here last year I’ve got a new coach, Sue Rose
(Wright, former world #3) so I have made lots of changes to my game.
When I do them it’s really good, so I just have to do them!!I started a
bit hacky and then better at the end. It’ll be good match in the
quarters whoever I play. I haven’t played either of them recently or
much. I like it here so……”
The last match on the championship court was the closest match of the
four this evening. #4 seed and world #13 Joshna Chinappa from India
played Egyptian’s Salma Hany Ibrahim who is world # 35. Joshna and
Salma played each other at last year’s Weymuller and it was an
incredible match with Joshna scrapping through 11/9 in the fifth.
Joshna is 5-0 up in the head to heads but the matches are always
closely contested so we knew we were in for a great battle.
The match started fast and furious with Joshna keeping the pace up and
Salma trying to move the ball around a little more where she could.
Salma pulled away at the beginning of the game 4-2, but the game stayed
very even until Salma took a 10-8 lead. A great shot and then stoke to
Joshna got her to equalize at 10-10. A second stroke to Joshna followed
by a wonderful hold in the middle from Joshna earned her the first game
12/10.
The second was almost a duplicate of the first, with Salma taking a 4-0
then 5-2 lead with some perfect drops and great pressure. But soon
Joshna found her consistent hard flat drive again and when she got her
openings in the front she was very creative and unpredictable with her
shot choices. Joshna got to 6-5 with a small lead, and then yet again
to mirror the first game, Salma started to use the spaces on the court
really well and she got a lead to 9-6. Joshna was playing the important
points so well and she tightened up her length and finished the rallies
with some fantastic shots and squeezed the errors from Salma. She went
from 6-9 straight through to win the second 11/9, much to Salma’s
dismay.
The third game started rather shakily with shorter rallies and a few
mistakes but Salma took a small lead of 3-1 in the third. Joshna was
not about to let Salma take control of the match so she went back to
her game plan and soon managed to get a 8-4 lead and was looking much
more comfortable than before. Feisty Salma was not going to give up
without a fight and while she was starting to look tired previously she
must have urged herself to dig deep and hang in there. Salma managed to
equalize at 8-8 but Joshna managed to turn it around right when it
mattered again and win the third and final game 11/8. The final score
of the 38 minute match was 12/10, 11/9, 11/8.
So here ends another incredibly exciting night of squash at The Heights
Casino. The quality of the matches tonight was fantastic and the
matches were so enjoyable to watch.
We all look forward to the second half of the first round starting at 5.30pm tomorrow night.
Please make a special effort to come support our own Heights Casino
touring PSA Pro, Haley Mendez, in her debut main draw Weymuller match
at 7.00pm.
Summary of Thursday's 1st round (split first round) results….
5.30pm Nour El Sherbini beat Kanzy Emad El Defrawy 11/8, 11/6, 11/8.
