El Weleily Over Sobhy In $35K glo Greenwich Open, DAY 3 Report
by Ryan Abraham
January 25, 2013
Main Draw gets going at Field Club
There was some great squash tonight at the Field Club of Greenwich with some of the top seeds being pushed to their limits. 7 of the top 8 seeds move on to the quarter finals, while Nour El Tayeb caused the upset on paper.
#1 Raneem El Weleily (Egy) def Amanda Sobhy (USA)
11/8, 11/2, 11/7
After a strong showing at the TOC, Amanda Sobhy powered her way through the qualifying round only to draw the top seed first round. Although the first game was somewhat close at 11/8, El Weleily began to think a little more in the next two without rushing her shots. And Sobhy began to look a little out of sorts compared to her regular game, which didn't help the situation.
El Weleily eventually won the next two games comfortably to advance to the quarterfinal stage.
#8 Camille Serme (Fra) def Natalie Grinham (Ned)
11/8, 13/11, 18/16
This was going to be a tough contest from the beginning and although the match was only 3 games, it lasted just over an hour. The young Frenchwoman has demonstrated her right to be in the top 10, and Natalie had just come off her recent victory at the T.O.C. final the night before.
Each game got closer as the match went on, and Grinham would show amazing tenacity in her retrieval skills. However, Serme was determined not to prolong the match and just kept sticking with it and waiting for an error by her spritely opponent. After exchanging a few game / match balls in the 3rd game, Serme eventually held on to take the match in 3.
#3 Low Wee Wern (Mas) def Aisling Blake (Irl)
11/9, 9/11, 11/5, 11/5
In another gritty much from start to finish, the theme of the match was steadiness. The first two games were traded between players and both Blake and Wee Wern looked solid on the court with some extensive rallying. However, once the 3rd game was underway, the duration of the rallies slowly began to take its toll on the Irish player as Wee Wern would begin to increase her lead. After winning the 3rd game 11/5, the 4th followed in similar fashion and the #3 seed from Malaysia would advance to the quarterfinals
#5 Madeline Perry (Irl) vs Maria Elena Ubina (USA)
11/4, 11/5, 11/7
Perry had no intention of underestimating her opponent despite facing off against a wild card local. Ubina who is one of the top ranked U.S. Juniors and a member of the host club (Field Club of Greenwich) put up a strong fight against the vastly more experienced Perry. She would eventually lose in 3 straight games but showed some spurts of high level squash to rally with a former top 3 player.
#7 Kasey Brown (Aus) vs Rachel Grinham (Aus)
7/11, 11/7, 11/4, 11/4
In the Aussie-Aussie showdown of the night, these two ladies have obviously played each other a few times before. Grinham started off strong taking the first game 11/7, but Brown quickly took control of the match with steadier pace and keeping Rachel constantly on the run. Despite having played at the T.O.C. final the night before, Brown managed to keep up the right intensity to finish the match.
#4 Annie Au (Hkg) vs Nour El Tayeb (Egy)
11/8, 11/5, 9/11, 11/9
In the upset match of the night, the young Egyptian was just too strong for the #4 seed tonight. After taking the first two games, El Tayeb found herself in a tighter 3rd game and began to lose control of her game a bit. Au pulled back the 3rd game 11/9, and both players were gutting it out in the 4th. After regrouping from the 3rd game, El Tayeb, found her patience again and just tried to pick her spots before attacking the ball and closed out the match 11/9 in the 4th
#6 Dipika Pallikal (Ind) vs Donna Urquhart (Aus)
7/11, 9/11, 12/10, 14/12, 11/4
In what was probably the longest match of the night, Urquhart was inches away from upsetting the ranks. She took the first two games by matching everything Pallikal sent her way and was able to force some errors out of her opponent to take a 2-0 lead. The following two games were just as close, needing tie-breaks to decide each one. Pallikal saved a couple match balls along the way with Urquhart just not being able to convert on the key points. Pallikal hung in there and used her holds in the front court almost flawlessly.
In the deciding game, Urquhart just looked spent and lost a step or two which only strengthened Pallikal's ability to dominate the points as she took the match home 11/4 in the 5th.
#2 Nour El Sherbini (Egy) vs Joey Chan (Hkg)
11/9, 11/5, 11/5
The second-seeded Sherbini was in strong form tonight and followed the lead of her top-seeded compatriot who played earlier. Coming up against a determined Chan who played well through the qualifiers, the 1st game seemed to allude to potentially tough match. But the young Egyptian changed gears in the second game and never looked back as she took the next two games 11/5, 11/5 to make her first quarterfinal berth at this tournament.
SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE - QUARTERFINALS
At the Round Hill Club
2:00pm:
Raneem El Weleily
vs
Camille Serme
3:00pm:
Low Wee Wern
vs
Madeline Perry
4:00pm:
Nour El Tayeb
vs
Kasey Brown
5:00pm:
Nour El Sherbini
vs
Dipika Pallikal
by Ryan Abraham
January 25, 2013
Main Draw gets going at Field Club
There was some great squash tonight at the Field Club of Greenwich with some of the top seeds being pushed to their limits. 7 of the top 8 seeds move on to the quarter finals, while Nour El Tayeb caused the upset on paper.
#1 Raneem El Weleily (Egy) def Amanda Sobhy (USA)
11/8, 11/2, 11/7
After a strong showing at the TOC, Amanda Sobhy powered her way through the qualifying round only to draw the top seed first round. Although the first game was somewhat close at 11/8, El Weleily began to think a little more in the next two without rushing her shots. And Sobhy began to look a little out of sorts compared to her regular game, which didn't help the situation.
El Weleily eventually won the next two games comfortably to advance to the quarterfinal stage.
#8 Camille Serme (Fra) def Natalie Grinham (Ned)
11/8, 13/11, 18/16
This was going to be a tough contest from the beginning and although the match was only 3 games, it lasted just over an hour. The young Frenchwoman has demonstrated her right to be in the top 10, and Natalie had just come off her recent victory at the T.O.C. final the night before.
Each game got closer as the match went on, and Grinham would show amazing tenacity in her retrieval skills. However, Serme was determined not to prolong the match and just kept sticking with it and waiting for an error by her spritely opponent. After exchanging a few game / match balls in the 3rd game, Serme eventually held on to take the match in 3.
#3 Low Wee Wern (Mas) def Aisling Blake (Irl)
11/9, 9/11, 11/5, 11/5
In another gritty much from start to finish, the theme of the match was steadiness. The first two games were traded between players and both Blake and Wee Wern looked solid on the court with some extensive rallying. However, once the 3rd game was underway, the duration of the rallies slowly began to take its toll on the Irish player as Wee Wern would begin to increase her lead. After winning the 3rd game 11/5, the 4th followed in similar fashion and the #3 seed from Malaysia would advance to the quarterfinals
#5 Madeline Perry (Irl) vs Maria Elena Ubina (USA)
11/4, 11/5, 11/7
Perry had no intention of underestimating her opponent despite facing off against a wild card local. Ubina who is one of the top ranked U.S. Juniors and a member of the host club (Field Club of Greenwich) put up a strong fight against the vastly more experienced Perry. She would eventually lose in 3 straight games but showed some spurts of high level squash to rally with a former top 3 player.
#7 Kasey Brown (Aus) vs Rachel Grinham (Aus)
7/11, 11/7, 11/4, 11/4
In the Aussie-Aussie showdown of the night, these two ladies have obviously played each other a few times before. Grinham started off strong taking the first game 11/7, but Brown quickly took control of the match with steadier pace and keeping Rachel constantly on the run. Despite having played at the T.O.C. final the night before, Brown managed to keep up the right intensity to finish the match.
#4 Annie Au (Hkg) vs Nour El Tayeb (Egy)
11/8, 11/5, 9/11, 11/9
In the upset match of the night, the young Egyptian was just too strong for the #4 seed tonight. After taking the first two games, El Tayeb found herself in a tighter 3rd game and began to lose control of her game a bit. Au pulled back the 3rd game 11/9, and both players were gutting it out in the 4th. After regrouping from the 3rd game, El Tayeb, found her patience again and just tried to pick her spots before attacking the ball and closed out the match 11/9 in the 4th
#6 Dipika Pallikal (Ind) vs Donna Urquhart (Aus)
7/11, 9/11, 12/10, 14/12, 11/4
In what was probably the longest match of the night, Urquhart was inches away from upsetting the ranks. She took the first two games by matching everything Pallikal sent her way and was able to force some errors out of her opponent to take a 2-0 lead. The following two games were just as close, needing tie-breaks to decide each one. Pallikal saved a couple match balls along the way with Urquhart just not being able to convert on the key points. Pallikal hung in there and used her holds in the front court almost flawlessly.
In the deciding game, Urquhart just looked spent and lost a step or two which only strengthened Pallikal's ability to dominate the points as she took the match home 11/4 in the 5th.
#2 Nour El Sherbini (Egy) vs Joey Chan (Hkg)
11/9, 11/5, 11/5
The second-seeded Sherbini was in strong form tonight and followed the lead of her top-seeded compatriot who played earlier. Coming up against a determined Chan who played well through the qualifiers, the 1st game seemed to allude to potentially tough match. But the young Egyptian changed gears in the second game and never looked back as she took the next two games 11/5, 11/5 to make her first quarterfinal berth at this tournament.
SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE - QUARTERFINALS
At the Round Hill Club
2:00pm:
Raneem El Weleily
vs
Camille Serme
3:00pm:
Low Wee Wern
vs
Madeline Perry
4:00pm:
Nour El Tayeb
vs
Kasey Brown
5:00pm:
Nour El Sherbini
vs
Dipika Pallikal
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