Sam Cornett Courtside At The British Open Finals
from DailySquashReport.com
May 21, 2012 - Canada's Samantha Cornett, who successfully qualified into the women's event before losing to fourth-seed Madeline Perry, sent this report to DSR from the O2 Arena in London:
What amazing finals, I'm sure you'd agree. Both 3-0, but obviously there was so much more to them than that.
The buildup to these finals was so interesting to watch, with upsets galore and some wickedly close matches.
Nicol proves herself over and over again. Her experience with winning shone today while we watched her make the first game extra-long, which was such an intelligent move against Sherbini, as the young Egyptian had been put through so many long matches in the earlier rounds. Nicol seems to get better and better all the time, so while there are many up-and-comers climbing the ranks, Nicol is not sitting down to admire her 6 years at number one. She is improving as well, and this will make it extra difficult to catch her.
Nour must be ecstatic to be 16 years old and in the British Open final. I realize that at that level, her goal must be to win, but in my opinion she can certainly take a lot away from this tournament. Her stamina and the mental effort it must have taken to push through 4 gruelling matches to reach the final is incredible. I'm sure though, that at the rate she's improving, those matches will become less difficult, and by the time she reaches the finals in the future, she'll have more left in the tank. She has a long and exciting career ahead of her I'm sure!
As for the men, it was so great to watch the difference in style of the two players in the final. Ramy's shots may not have been on, but he is still incredibly exciting to watch. Nick's hard work is impressive to say the least, I loved watching his first movement from the T, which was lightning fast. He played so strongly throughout the tournament, never wavered in his confidence. Watching someone perform so well, while he must be under so much pressure in front of his home crowd, was inspiring. Although maybe he didn't feel it as pressure, but as incentive and encouragement with the whole crowd behind him! Something to learn from that.
So congrats to the champions! It was a super tournament to be a part of, and huge thanks to everyone involved with putting it on, from the refs, to the drivers, to Judy, Allan, Tim, Elliot, Steve, Fram, SquashTV, and all of the volunteers, and not to mention the sponsors, most notably Allam! Us players wouldn't have such a fun job if it weren't for ALL of their work.
Cheers
Sam
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