Sobhy, Cornett Advance, Hansen Over Blatchford in Weymuller Qualifier by Linda Elriani October 1, 2013
- The 2013 Carol Weymuller Squash Tournament is now underway with the
first 8 qualification matches starting at 5.30pm on our Heights Casino
squash courts.
The weather in NY is
unusually warm at the moment and consequently the courts are very hot
and bouncy making it difficult to finish the rallies.
The 5.30pm match was
between Samantha Teran world # 29 from Mexico playing Lisa Aitken from
England and world #46. This was the longest match of the evening with
the control going to and fro. It was really Lisa’s resilience and
determination that got her through the fifth game and she finally came
through 11-8 in the fifth. After the mammoth match Lisa said “Wow!
These are the sort of players that I am looking to beat now. I had a
good summer and trained really hard. I just need to believe in myself
and have confidence in the work I have put in. I also need to remember
not to come out in any game in 2nd gear!
The second 5.30pm
match was Line Hansen from Denmark playing USA’s Olivia Blatchford who
used to train at the Heights Casino as a junior. Line has just moved up
in to the top 20 in the world for the first time her career so is
obviously playing her best squash at the moment.
Olivia started the
match on fire moving Line around the court well and taking the ball in
short very precisely. Olivia won the first 11-7. Line came out in the
second hitting a better length and started to force some errors from
Olivia and came through with more control 11-4. The last 2 games of the
match were incredibly closely contested but with both players having
runs of points and control. Line was 8-3 up in the 3rd and Olivia
fought back to have a game ball at 11-10 and 12-11 but couldn’t
capitalize on these chances to take the 3rd losing it 14-12. The 4th
game Olivia was the one who took a 7-4 lead and then Line evened things
up at 9-9 and eventually Line’s experience got her through 13-11 to
take the match 3-1. You can really see Olivia’s game has matured and
with her new funding it’ll enable her to concentrate only on her
training and preparation I’m sure she’ll be causing many upsets over
the months to come.
Line said after her
match ended “I’m really happy I won. I think Olivia played really well.
You have to expect that she’ll hit some lovely shots. Maybe I was a bit
slow to get going coming straight from LA” When I commented on her
breaking into the top 20 line commented “Since I moved to Holland just
over a year ago my daily training is better and consequently my results
have been better”
Line plays Lisa tomorrow at 5.00pm.
It was packed audience
at 6.15pm on the championship court when Sam Cornett world #32 from
Canada played Latasha Khan the US tour veteran and world #31. This was
one of the two long and truly exciting matches of the evening. The
rallies were long and hard and every point was closely contested. The
first went to 19-17 in Sam’s favor but Latasha came out strong in the
second taking it 11-6. The third game ended up being the decider as it
was 9-9 with Latasha having one game ball at 10-9, but Samantha pushed
through to take it 12-10. Sam then went through to take the 4th more
easily 11-6.
Sam said afterwards “
That’s the 1st time I have beaten Latasha and I’ve played her a few
times! So it’s nice to feel some improvement. I’m hoping that my
opponent has a five setter!”
The second 6.15pm
match was between Victoria Lust and Emily Whitlock both young English
players ranked 35 and 26 in the world respectively. Both players vied
for the T and tried to take the ball early. The match was even at 1-1
and Vicky had a great start in the third going 6-1 up and Emily started
to make some forced and unforced errors. Vicky was 9-5 up and Emily
suddenly found her length and managed to get her control back and crept
up to 8-10 but Vicky finished the game on an amazing backhand kill in
the front corner taking the third 11-9. In the fourth Vicky was 5-2 and
Emily unfortunately had to stop due pains in her heal leaving Vicky to
go through to the finals of the qualifying. Vicky said” I felt like I
was able to stay in the rallies and managed to counter attack. I was
patience and I stuck to my game plan. It’s a shame that Emily got
injured in the end and I hope that she recovers before the US Open”.
Vicky now plays Sam tomorrow at 5.45pm.
The 7.00pm match on
the east court was between Nicolette Fernandes world # 19 from Guyana
and Sarah Cardwell world # 76 from Melbourne Australia. The rallies
were fast and exciting but Nicolette’s accuracy and immense experience
kept her controlling the middle and putting Sarah under pressure.
Nicolette won 11-7, 11-5, 11-6. Nicolette commented after her match “I
feel good. I’m happy, last year I came and lost in the 1st round of
qualifying. It’s always nice to come back to a tournament and do
better. I’m really looking forward to playing Amanda tomorrow. These
courts are nice and hot!!!!”
7.00m match was
between Amanda Sobhy the world #23 from USA and member of the Harvard
squash team played Lucie Fialova world #44 from Czech Republic. Amanda
mostly dominated the games and powered her opponent into the back and
controlled the T. Lucie tried her hardest to remove Amanda from the T
but couldn’t do it for enough of the time. Amanda said after her match
“It was hot out there!!!I’m feeling good and I trying to keep up the
studying and the training and also trying to play as many pro
tournaments as possible. Hopefully it’ll be less hot tomorrow!”
Amanda now plays Nicolette at 7.00pm tomorrow.
The 7.45pm match on
the west court was between Aisling Blake world # 22 from Ireland and
Kylie Lindsay world # 43 from New Zealand. Aisling played a precise
match to take Kylie out in 3 games 11-4, 11-6, 11-3. Aisling said “I’m
glad I’m in the finals of the qualifying rounds. They were hot courts
and both Kylie and I were playing at a slower pace. I wanted to avoid
the middle as Kylie has great hands. I was so glad to get off in 3. I’m
looking forward to tomorrow!”
Lastly but certainly
not least was Sarah Kippax world #21 from England and Olga Ertlova
world #45 from Czech Republic. This match was the finale match to a
wonderful evening of squash. Sarah was looking as strong as ever and
really made her opponent play her game. Sarah took the match 11-7,
11-6, 11-5. After the match I asked Sarah how she felt in her first
match and she said “I felt like I began to feel the court after the
first game and found my length. Olga had a good win recently and I
haven’t seen her play much so she was an unknown entity. I’m looking
forward to playing Aisling. We haven’t played for a couple of years.
We’ve had a few tough matches in the past so it should be a good game
tomorrow.”
It was a truly
fantastic evening of squash to start off the 2013 Weymuller.
Congratulations to all the winners and we look forward to the final
round of the qualifying tomorrow night which starts at 5.00pm.
Tuesday's results:
Line Hansen beat Olivia Blatchford 7-11, 11-4, 14-12, 13-11.
Lisa Aitken beat Samantha Teran 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8.
Victoria Lust beat Emily Whitlock 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 5-2 retired.
Sam Cornett beat Latasha Khan 19-17, 6-11, 12-10, 11-6.
Nicolette Fernandes beat Sarah Cardwell 11-7, 11-5, 11-6.
