Women’s World Open: Back To Full Speed At Victoria
by Steve Cubbins


Hawkes-Pallikal, photos courtesy Steve Cubbins

November 1, 2011 - If you thought tournaments like this got quieter as they went on, think again. Today we were back to 32 matches over four courts as the men's and women's events both reached the round of 32 stage, and it turned out to be a good day for quite a few Young Egyptians.  Here's how it all unfolded ...

The first two matches completed saw qualifiers Lauren Selby and Tesni Evans turn in creditable performances against Rachael Grinham and Samantha Teran, both having had a good tournament and doing themselves credit in today's openers.

"That was hard, she's a good player and very physical," said Tesni. "But I've enjoyed my week, it's been great to see the the top players together and to watch them play."

Selby was also satisfied: "I thought I did alright, considering the matches I've had so far this week. Rachael's not the easiest to play when you have heavy legs, she holds the ball so well and you have to stop and start and turn so often. But I'm pleased with my tournament, I thought I did credit to myself and I got my laundry done!!"

Teran was happy too: "I'm happy to get started, and to have a tough game to get me ready for the next round, Tesni played well. It's normally hard to adjust after the travel from Mexico, but I've been here a couple of days already and I feel quite comfortable, I'm in good rhythm and playing well.

In the next match,  Dipika Pallikal, who has just moved into the world's top twenty, took out 14th-seeded Kiwi Jaclyn Hawkes in four games.

"I started well then made too many errors in the second," said the Indian number one. "In the third and fourth I was trying to be more steady and I thought I did that well. I played Jackie in Malaysia in July so I knew what to expect, you have to be prepared to run and run like she does.

"Really happy to get through, it should be a good game against Kanzy ..."

There were no further upsets in the afternoon session women's matches, but none of Jenny Duncalf, Annie Au, Laura Massaro and Joelle King had particularly easy times of it even if they never looked in serious danger.

King found Swiss qualifier Gaby Huber a bit of a handful: "I'd never really seen her play, so it came as a bit of a surprise to find she hits the ball as hard as I do, which I'm not really used to," admitted the Kiwi commonwealth gold medallist, who won 11/7, 11/6, 11/6. "It's good to get started though and I'm very happy to win that one three-nil."

King now meets second seed Duncalf, who had just as tough a time of it against Line Hansen, coming through 11/9, 12/10, 11/7 in just over half an hour.

Meanwhile Duncalf's English team-mate Massaro managed to quell the lively young Egyptian Yathreb Adel 11/9, 11/7, 11/6 and she'll meet Annie Au, who won her all-Hong Kong match with Joey Chan in four games. "We play each other so often, it feels strange to come all the way over here just to play each other again," chuckled Au.
 
The Night Session...

The ladies got their first outing on Victoria's showcourt as locals Orla Noom and Natalie Grinham started their campaigns. Noom, who won the qualifying competition for the wilcard spot, performed well enough but Australia's Kasey Brown was a tough opponent, and the sixth seed came through in straight games despite Noom's best efforts and a noisy partisan crowd.

"It's never easy playing the crowd's home favourite," admitted Brown, "and they were definitely against me and pretty loud too, but I thought I coped with it well and played pretty well too."

The following match, featuring four-time finalist Grinham against her qualifier training partner Aisling Blake, was one the crowd had altogether different expectations of, and they weren't disappointed as the former Aussie who has just returned to the world's top ten came through in straight games in front of her watching husband and son.

Two contrasting women's matches followed. France's seventh seed Camille Serme, having lost to one young Egyptian (Raneem) in Qatar was in no mood to lose to another today as she took a close first game against Nour El Tayeb, doubled her lead with more ease in the second and gratefully accepted the world junior champion's retirement with an ankle injury at 2/1 in the third.

Fourth seed Madeline Perry went two games up as well, but her opponent, Emma Beddoes, far from conceding stormed back to take the next two games. It was fairly comfortable for the Northern Irishwoman in the decider, who after an tough hour long match will be grateful for a day's rest before she takes on Natalie Grinham at the Luxor Theatre on Thursday.

Meanwhile the ladies had resumed [if you're getting a little confused by now, imagine what it's like trying to follow 32 matches on four courts 'live', we actually lost the plot a while ago!] with Malaysian favourites on two courts.

Low Wee Wern had to work hard to secure a three-nil win over US veteran Latasha Khan, while five-time and defending champion Nicol David started off her defence on an outside court against compatriot Delia Arnold [and wad missed in its entirety by yours truly].

"Delia was struggling with the bounce on the court," said Nicol after her 11/3, 11/5, 11/6 win, "but I was too to start with, it took a little time to get comfortable on there. I had to remind myself it was the first round of the World Open and not let her get into it, she can be very dangerous if she does."

That left Donna Urquhart and Nour El Sherbini, who were by now into their fifth game too, Sherbini having taken the lead 2/1 after saving game balls in what proved to be a crucial third game. The fifth was a relative canter, the young Egyptian finally able to celebrate her 16th birthday with an 11/2 decider.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was day five at the World Open ...

Women’s Round ONE – bottom half (in playing order)

[3] Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt [Q] Lauren Selby (Eng) 11/7, 11/4, 11/5 (24m)

[15] Samantha Teran (Mex) bt [Q] Tesni Evans (Wal) 11/5, 11/3, 11/7 (24m)

Dipika Pallikal (Ind) bt [14] Jaclyn Hawkes (Nzl) 11/8, 9/11, 11/8, 11/7 (52m)

[Q] Kanzy El Dafrawy (Egy) bt [8] Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy) 12/10, 11/9, 12/10 (35m)

[5] Laura Massaro (Eng) bt [Q] Yathreb Adel (Egy) 11/9, 11/7, 11/6 (41m)

[9] Annie Au (Hkg) bt Joey Chan (Hkg) 13/11, 11/6, 7/11, 11/6 (46m)

[10] Joelle King (Nzl) bt [Q] Gaby Huber (Sui) 11/7, 11/6, 11/6 (35m)

[2] Jenny Duncalf (Eng) bt Line Hansen (Den) 11/9, 12/10, 11/7 (32m)


[11] Raneem El Weleily (Egy) bt Sarah Kippax (Eng) 11/9, 11/9, 11/5 (30m)

[6] Kasey Brown (Aus) bt Orla Noom (Ned) 11/6, 11/5, 11/4 (32m)

[12] Natalie Grinham (Ned) bt [Q] Aisling Blake (Irl) 11/5, 11/3, 11/9 (37m)

[4] Madeline Perry (Irl) bt Emma Beddoes (Eng) 11/8, 11/4, 7/11, 7/11, 11/3 (58m)

[7] Camille Serme (Fra) bt Nour El Tayeb (Egy) 12/10, 11/7, 2/1 rtd (28m)

[16] Low Wee Wern (Mas) bt [Q] Latasha Khan (Usa) 11/6, 11/9, 11/8 (42m)

[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt Delia Arnold (Mas) 11/3, 11/6, 11/5 (29m)

[Q] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) bt [13] Donna Urquhart (Aus) 10/12, 11/8, 13/11, 9/11, 11/2 (61m)




 

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