El Weleily Captures $35K Glo Greenwich Open
by Liam Kenny
January 23, 2012 - The final of the Women's Professional Singles - The Glo Greenwich Open Sunday afternoon was a gripping display of high quality professional squash with World No.7 Raneem El Weleily from Egypt taking on the in form Kiwi - World No.11 Joelle King.
The match was a contrast of styles with King, in a show of strength, using powerful volleys and low thumping drives to unsettle her more fancied opponent El Weleily, who carries the classic attacking Egyptian traits of shooting from everywhere on the court.
The match began at a blistering pace with King pounding her length, determined to stamp her authority on proceedings. Raneem weathered the storm early, deftly moving King to the front routinely to keep her off balance and force an opening in the points.
The quality of squash cannot be understated with both players making some incredible recoveries to keep themselves in the rallies. Trading point for point in the first couple of games, El Weleily edged her way to a 2 games to zero lead by consistently finding the right attacking option as Joelle struggled to find her rhythm on the short ball against her more nimble opponent.
King regrouped in the third, getting off to a quick start courtesy of some uncharacteristic errors from the Egyptian and some well executed and timely volleys.
With the game score at 2-1 El Weleily, regrouped to structure her points much better, building her attack more patiently. A barrage of hold and flicks kept the tall Kiwi twisting and turning in the fourth as the Egyptian claimed her first Greenwich Open Title winning the admiration of an enthralled and appreciative gallery. King, a bridesmaid for the 2nd year in succession can take heart from a solid week and will no doubt be back again next year to hopefully make it third time lucky.
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