Sam Cornett Upsets Dipika Pallikal In US Open Qualifying; American Women Suffer Rough Day
from DailySquashReport.com
October 7, 2012 - In a gritty performance, top-Canadian woman Samantha Cornett came from 2-1 down yesterday to upset 14th-ranked Dipika Pallikal of India in the first round US Open qualifying, closing out the match 11-9 in the fifth.
The 21-year-old Cornett, currently ranked 37th, called it "the biggest win of my life".
Sam will meet Donna Urquhart in today's qualifying final.
The six Americans entered in yesterday's first round qualifiers in Philadelphia did not fare as well.
US Champion Amanda Sobhy lost in five to England's Sarah Kippax; Amy Gross lost in three to Camille Serme; Elizabeth Eyre lost in three to Nour El Tayeb; Maria Ubina lost in three to Donna Urquhart; Latasha Khan lost in four to Kanzy El Dafrawy; and Sabrina Sobhy lost in three to Joelle King.
Steve Cubbins files this report:
All six home representatives fell at the first hurdle as the 2012 Delaware Investments Women’s U.S. Open kicked off at Drexel University.
The first match of the day saw France’s Camille Serme beat pre-qualifier Amy Gross in three games. A decent start of 5/4 in the first -and a late flourish from 9/1 down in the third from Gross weren’t enough to stem the tide of French points.
“It was a lot of fun, and getting to play someone in the world top 20 in my first professional tournament was a great experience,” said Amy. “The pace and pressure were just so much more than I’m used to, but I really enjoyed it.”
“I was a little nervous,” admitted Serme, “it’s been a while since I played in a qualifying event, and when you play a local you never know how good they might be. I was pleased with how I played, a good start and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Things looked more promising when former world junior champion Amanda Sobhy took a 2-1 lead against Sarah Kippax, who had been elevated to a seeded position after the late withdrawal of Jaclyn Hawkes. But the Englishwoman fought back to take the final two games convincingly.
”I lost 3-2 to Amanda in January so I was keen to get a win today,” explained Kippax. “She’s very strong and skilful, but I managed to keep my consistency for most of the match, although there were a few swings of momentum. I worked her hard and I think she tired towards the end.”
Another English victory followed as Alison Waters, re-established in the top ten and almost certainly playing her last qualification event for a while, beat Misaki Kobayashi 11-6, 11-6, 11-6. “Someone has to get her,” tweeted the young Japanese, “but I enjoyed it!”
Nour El Tayeb, another former world junior champion, proved too strong for Elizabeth Eyre, whose main concentration at the moment is her studies at Princeton. “It was good fun,” said Eyre, “I saw her play in the World Juniors so I knew it was going to be tough! I’ve got two more years of study, I’ll concentrate on that and playing for Princeton, then we’ll see how my game goes after that.”
Donna Urquhart also wasted no time as she beat Maria Elena Ubina in straight games. “She crushed me, but I knew she would,” said Ubina, realistically.
After those couple of quickfire wins he longest women’s match of the day followed as Canadian Sam Cornett, the world number 37, produced “the biggest win of my life” as she came from 2-1 down to upset India’s world number 14 Dipika Pallikal.
“Shahier told me that I needed to try to slow the pace down, but she plays so fast it’s really hard to do that, it’s easy to just go with it and hit the ball. I managed to get the pace down after three games, and I played a little bit risky but it worked, I’m so delighted.
“I went to five with Donna in the Carol Weymuller, losing 11/9 in the fifth, so it should be a good match tomorrow.”
Ranked a few places below Cornett at 47, Kanzy El Dafrawy was the next to produce an upset as she beat veteran US star Latasha Khan in four games.
“I didn’t even know I was in the tournament until yesterday,” said a delighted Egyptian, and I spent all 10 hours on the bus here telling myself that I had to win this time, I couldn’t lose in five like I did lasy time I played Latasha in January.
“It’s been hard getting used to the lifestyle here in the US, the training, the studying, and the whole thing is so different to what I was used to in Egypt. I’m glad that my standard hasn’t dropped like I thought it would, now I just want to keep winning to start getting my ranking back up again.”
That left just one US hope, but New Zealand’s Joelle King was too strong for Amanda’s younger sister Sabrina Sobhy as the world number 12 completed an amazingly strong qualifying finals lineup for tomorrow.
Tomorrow – Sunday – sees the conclusion of the men’s first round with the bottom half of the draw, and the women’s qualifying finals.
Women’s Qualifying Round One:
Camille Serme (Fra) bt Amy Gross (Usa) 11-5, 11-2, 11-5 (18m)
Sarah Kippax (Eng) bt Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 11-8, 2-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-6
Alison Waters (Eng) bt Misaki Kobayashi (Jpn) 11-6, 11-6, 11-6 (29m)
Nour El Tayeb (Egy) bt Elizabeth Eyre (Usa) 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 (20m)
Donna Urquhart (Aus) bt Maria Elena Ubina (Usa) 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 (18m)
Samantha Cornett (Can) bt Dipika Pallikal (Ind) 14-12, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9
Kanzy El Dafrawy (Egy) bt Latasha Khan (Usa) 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7 (34m)
Joelle King (Nzl) bt Sabrina Sobhy (Usa) 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (23m)
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