El Sherbini, Serme Advance to $50K Weymuller Semis, Report
by Linda Elriani

photo Reynold Chan

October 22, 2016

Hi Everyone,

Tonight is quarter finals night of the 2016 Carol Weymuller Open. The quarter finals night is always my favorite night at tournaments because it's four extremely high quality matches all in one afternoon. The weather for most of today was so rainy and grey, but the atmosphere here in the Heights Casino squash courts was vibrant, exciting and fun!

Today we had the junior 'Play a Pro' which ran from 12.00pm-1.00pm before the quarterfinals. It's our juniors chance to get on court with some of the best women's squash players in the world. That doesn't happen every day! A huge thank you goes to Jenny Duncalf, Donna Urquhart, Samantha Teran, Christine Nunn and Nicolette Fernandes for taking the time to play with them. They all gave up part of their afternoon to play with our juniors and the kids all had such an amazing time (including my son Jack!). The PSA women are so great at giving back and spreading the joy and love of squash to others. 

Today’s quarter finals had 7 different countries being represented which shows the diversity in this great sport. Egypt, USA, India, England, France, New Zealand, Hong Kong are all strong squash nations and we are very lucky to have all these wonderful players travel from around the globe to play in our event.

First up on the championship court was giant killer Olivia Blatchford, who is the world #32 and the only qualifier to make it through to the quarter finals. Her opponent needs no introduction, the world #1 and the youngest ever world champion, Nour El Sherbini! Olivia and Nour have played four times before but not in the last year and it’s clear that Olivia has made huge improvements recently and she could obviously go out there to play with no pressure.

First game started well for Nour with her controlling the T and finding the perfect spaces on the court to put her opponent under maximum pressure. If Olivia left any shots loose then Nour would just slot them away. Soon Nour was 6-2 up. Olivia didn’t stop fighting and trying to impose her game and it started playing dividends and she clawed her way back from 3-6 down to take the lead at 7-6. Nour made a few errors and it was almost as if she has so much fun going for her shots that she tries them out when she has a few points lead. This can however sometimes back fire and your opponent can capitalize on the error or tactical weaknesses. Olivia was moving great and really making the effort to take the ball really early, pushing up the court and putting Nour under some considerable pressure. Olivia certainly hit her own share of incredible winners too. But with all Olivia’s great efforts, at 8-9 Nour put her foot on the gas and went through in one hand to take the first game 11/9.

The second game was all Nour. Whist Olivia tried her hardest to reapply some of the pressure she had found in the first, Nour just never looked rushed and she absorbed any pressure and stayed relaxed and smooth in her play. Nour played an amazing game with no errors, tight lengths and wonderful tactical choices. It was tough for Olivia to stop the rampage of great squash coming her way. Nour won the second 11/4.

The third game followed the same route as the second. Olivia managed to hang in and stay even at 3-3 but Nour’s control and error free squash was hard to stop. Nour went through to take the third and final game 11/4, but Olivia really did herself proud and kept pushing hard and staying positive the whole time. Nour won 11/9, 11/4, 11/4 in 25 minutes.

After her match when I asked how she felt, Nour said, “Better. Playing better and getting used to the court more and found my shots more. I felt like the 1st was quite close and it was very important to win that game, as I don’t know how it would go it I had lost it. Last time I played Olivia I lost game and I didn’t want to lose it this time. I found my length more and my shots and I was trying to attack more”.

Second match on court was the between England’s world #11 Sarah-Jane Perry, who is very in form at the moment, getting her career best PSA win over legend Nicol David last month and Joshna Chinappa from India who is world #13.They have not played for a couple of years and have only ever played twice before. Their head to head is 1-1 so it was going to be interesting to see who could move forward in the tally.

The matches took a little time for the players to settle in but once it did it was SJ that took control. She kept the rallies short and controlled the speed completely, keeping the rallies slower than the pace that Joshna likes to play at. SJ went through to win the first 11-6.

SJ came out in the second and really managed to keep her game plan going. Joshna tried very hard to impose her game but to no avail. SJ’s lengths were just that bit deeper and tighter and therefore giving herself some great opening to use her accurate drops. SJ was telling herself to drop in between points and this tactic certainly worked today as she played a few winning drops from the back corner as well as from the T.

We were left wondering if Joshna could change this game around and start to use some of her amazing pace and kills or would SJ manage to keep up this amazing controlled squash?

SJ did an even better job of following her game plan in the third. She was so steady, controlled and accurate. She never seemed rushed or off balance. Joshna ran out of ideas as every time she tried something SJ came back with interest. SJ went through to take the third 11/3 and the match 11/6,11/6,11/3 in 22 minutes.

A happy SJ said after her match “I’m really pleased with that, to get off in 3 against such a skillful player. We’ve only played twice before and it is 1-1 in wins. Twice in 5 years isn’t very often!! It was nice to stick to my game plan so well. I need to follow my game plan extra, extra well for tomorrow. More than I did at the US Open when I played Nour, but I’m looking forward to it.”

The third match of the evening was between the 2014 Weymuller champion Alison Waters from England against Kiwi Joelle King who is currently world #9. These players have been competing against each other since 2010 and have played an impressive 9 times with Alison just up on the head to head by 5 to 4. They are both very strong and hard hitting players that like to take the ball early so we knew we were in for an exciting match. This was by far the closest contested match of the night lasting well over an hour.

The first game started really well for Ali and she managed to control the T and volley well and play just the way she likes to. Joelle looked like she wasn’t moving fast and efficiently like her normal self and Ali managed to dominate more because of this. Ali took the first quite comfortably 11-4.

In the second Joelle came out with much more purpose and poise. She managed to hold the T more and keep in front of Ali to get a nice 4-1 lead. Alison got her length a little deeper again which forced Joelle back and pulled back to 5-5. Joelle took control again, she stepped up, volleyed more and looked to attack in the front whenever she could. Ali seemed to lose her focus and purpose on her shots and couldn’t get the T back. Joelle went on to win the second 11/6.

The third game was closely contested all the way through with no one managing to pull away and control the game like in the previous two. Both players played some wonderful winning short shorts when they were on, but also played some unforced errors at other times. It was interesting to see who could bring out their best at the right times. It was Ali this time and she squeezed the third game 11/9.

The fourth game flipped back to Joelle taking more control of the T than Ali and she managed to hit some fantastic shots including a disguised backhand boast to give herself a 7-3 lead. Ali pushed on and made some leverage but Joelle was placing the ball so nicely and moving Ali all around the court. Joelle went on to win the fourth 11/7 to equalize the match.

We were left wondering who would bring their A game into the fifth, as clearly whoever did could win! Ali started solidly and even though she got a small 3-0 lead, soon Joelle was back into the swing of it and evened things up at 3-3. From then on it was so close back and forth, with both players vying for the control of the T and trying to force openings or errors from each other. It was even until 6-6 and then there were some quick points lost by Joelle due to a stoke against her, a serve that hit her and a no let!! This could not have come at a better time for Ali as it had been such a closely fought fifth game up until then. This time Joelle didn’t manage to turn it around and Ali, who really managed to play the big points so well, came through to win the fifth 11/7 and the match 11/4, 6/11, 11/9, 7/11, 11/7.

Ali said afterward her match “We tend to have big battles and so I’m pleased to win this one. I was just trying to keep active in my footwork and keep my body language positive. Really pleased to have won and onto the semi’s tomorrow!”

Last up on the championship court, but certainly not least was Hong Kong’s world # 12 Annie Au against Camille Serme world #7 from France. Camille is fresh out of her amazing US Open win so everyone was particularly excited to see her play. Annie and Camille played their first competitive match against each other back in 2005 as juniors at the British Junior Open in the GU17! They are 5-5 in overall head to head (including when they were juniors) and here they are still competing 11 years later. They played last week at the US Open were Camille won 3-0 but I’m sure that Annie will want to her own back!

It was fantastic first game for Camille. She was sharp, alert and much more relaxed than yesterday. Camille had mentioned in her interview yesterday that it was tough to get used to different court conditions after playing in the cooler glass court with a lower tin at the US Open last week, but today she looked like she had adjusted completely! Annie showed glimpses of brilliance with a couple of incredible forehand flick winners that no could read let alone Camille, but this wasn’t enough to stop the charging force that Camille brought on the court today. Camille won the first 11/3.

Camille started the second with the same wonderful squash and went 5-0 and then 8-3 up in no time. Annie then gave a big push and there were three points of consecutive great squash with nice changes of direction, whipping the ball cross courts out of Camille’s reach. Annie clawed back some points but Camille’s dying drives into the corners caused Annie to stay back on the court and Camille, with the help of a back wall nick, managed to take the second game 11/7.

The third game was a repeat of the second with Camille starting the game by executing her game plan to the T and finding her targets in the back so perfectly. At 5-1 up it looked like Annie was out of the game but suddenly she had a spell where she showed us exactly why she is world #12. Her lengths got deeper and tighter and Camille started to look just a little bit shaky and rushed a few shots. After managing to tie at 6-6 Annie got a no let and this gave Camille chance to change up the rhythm and regain the control. There were some lovely long rallies but in the end Camille superior squash over ruled and she went through to win the match 11/3, 11/7, 11/8 in 29 minutes.

Camille said afterwards “It felt the same last week at the US Open, when I would be ahead in the games and then Annie would push back, so it felt good to have a gap between our points. I’m happy with the conditions, its cooler today so I could find my length better. It’s going to be a good battle tomorrow. Ali had a tough one today so we’ll see how she can handle it physically. I’m just trying to find the extra mentally. As I said with the 5 matches last week and now more, it’s going to be all about the mental side.”

Here ends yet another amazing evening of squash. We really have been treated to some wonderful matches and the players are such incredible athletes. We can't wait for the semi finals tomorrow at 2.30pm and 3.15pm to see who will make it through to the Weymuller Open final on Monday night.

After the completion of the quarterfinals we had our new Weymuller@Dinner event, which a wonderful success with delicious food and great company. It was a very special and fun way to celebrate the Weymuller week.

There is a Sunday Weymuller Brunch from 12pm-2pm before the matches. Please call the front desk if you would like to come.

Summary of Saturday's results.

2.00pm Nour El Sherbini beat Olivia Blatchford 11/9, 11/4, 11/4.

2.45pm Sarah-Jane Perry beat Joshna Chinappa 11/6, 11/6, 11/3.

3.30pm Alison Waters beat Joelle King 11/4, 6/11, 11/9, 7/11, 11/7.

4.15pm Camille Serme beat Annie Au 11/3, 11/7, 11/8.


Sunday's semi finals are.

2.30pm Nour El Sherbini V Sarah Jane Perry

3.15pm Camille Serme V Alison Waters