Salma Hany Beats World No 3 Laura Massaro in Carol Weymuller First Round, Joelle King Over No 5 Alison Waters Linda Elriani Reports
photos Jean Ervasti
October 1, 2015
- Tonight was the 1st round of the 2015 Carol Weymuller Main draw. The
bottom half of the draw played their matches this evening and the top
half plays tomorrow. The bottom half is full of English players with
one in each of this evenings four matches. The evening was full of
upsets with all but one of the seeded players going out in the first
round!
First on the Championship court was world #5 Laura Massaro from
England, who won the Weymuller back in 2012 and her young teenage
Egyptian opponent, Salma Hany Ibrahim, ranked world #20.
In their head to head in PSA tournaments Laura stands at 2-0 but Salma
came very close in one of them so we knew we are in for a great and
competitive match. This match was by far the most exciting one of the
evening!
The match started ferociously with movement all over the court with
attacks and counter attacks, especially from Salma. Laura was trying to
find her rhythm and stop the shorts from her young opponent. Salma
managed to wrong foot Laura with her great holds and ability to
straighten up the ball from the front forehand when under a massive
pressure. Salma squeezed out the first game 12-10.
Laura came out playing her game in the second and managed to vary the
pace more and control the T and she came through to win 11/8.
Salma started the third game on fire and with a couple of errors from
Laura she was 7-2 and then 8-5 up . Laura lost the great length that
she had which pinned down Salma in the second. Salma took advantage of
her lead and won 11/7.
The fourth was all Laura. She pushed up the court, took the ball
earlier and hit her length with a purpose again with some lovely hold
cross court flick drop shots to finish off the rally. Salma started
making errors and started reacting to Laura’s attacking game. Laura
went through to win 11/4.
The fifth started off pretty evenly with Laura taking a small lead at
3-1 but soon Salma started hitting an array of wonderful winners again
from all the court and she went ahead to 9-4. Laura gave a huge push
and started to climb back and Salma looked as though she was starting
to doubt herself a little mentally, though she chased down every single
ball and even did the splits in the front forehand corner whilst trying
to get back one of Laura’s drop shorts. Laura clawed back to 7-9 and
then Salma hit a cross court volley nick winner off the serve to take
her to match ball. Salma panicked in the next rally and mishit the ball
and you were let thinking that Laura could maybe pull this off! At 9-10
Laura had Salma running all over the court and then out of nowhere
Salma hit an amazing unexpected forehand boast to take the match and
her first win off Laura 11-9 in the fifth.
A red faced and extremely happy looking Salma said “I’m speechless!
It’s not that I can’t believe I won it’s that I pushed myself so much
when I was tired! I didn’t want to lose this time after last year but I
still had a feeling I’m not going to win, even though I’m playing well.
So I made myself smaller goals and just told myself ‘just one point at
a time’ as when I told myself I’ve got to win it felt harder. When it
was 2-2 Omneya, Raneem, Nour and my friend Bolla (who drove 90 minutes
to come and watch me) told me ‘You have only one game left so
give it your all! Don’t lose your focus like last time’. I’m also
impressed with my nick and boast at the end!!”
Second match on the championship court was world #11 Emma Beddoes from
England against India’s Joshana Chinappa who is world # 24. Emma
recently got engaged to fellow Englishman and squash pro Eddie Charlton
so there will be wedding bells ringing in 2016!! Emma has a 2-0 lead in
the head to head but they haven’t played each other for a couple of
years so it was interesting to see if the young Indian player had
managed to close the gap since their last meeting.
Emma started the match in fine form and didn’t let Joshana settle and she won handily 11/4.
The second was a true battle and but a much different match than the
previous one with longer more traditional rallies up and down the wall.
Joshana started to do more with the ball than Emma and get in front of
her and chop the ball in at the front. The score went back and forth
but Joshana came through in a marathon 16-14!
The third stayed in Joshana’s favor and she used the front of the court
well with great disguised backhand boasts. Emma seemed to have fallen
into a reactive mode and before we knew it Joshana was 2-1 up winning
the third 11/7.
Emma came out much more aggressively in the fourth and even though she
fell down twice in the game she keep her composure and won 11/8.
In the fifth Emma went too defensive and was pushing the ball around
the court and Joshana took advantage of this and attacked short
whenever Emma’s lengths were not deep enough. With a fall that caused
Emma’s calf to briefly cramp and a few more winners, Joshana went
through to get her first win from the English woman in her career.
Joshana said after her match “I’m happy of course. It was a tough match
and it could have gone either way. With Emma being on form and at her
highest ranking I’m really glad I pulled through”.
The next match on was between England’s Sarah-Jane Perry who is world
#15 against qualifier Kanzy Emad El Defrawy who is world #36. Their
head to head is 1-1, with Kanzy winning last time they played back in
June so we could be sure that Sarah-Jane wanted to get her own back!
Kanzy came out in the first game on fire and went 7-1 up before SJ had
turned around. SJ found a little rhythm but Kanzy went on to win the
first 11/5.
The second SJ was ready for the random winners and started to push up
to the front better and use her great lob to regain her position
throughout the rallies. In typical Kanzy form, she dived around the
court several times in her huge efforts to retrieve everything humanly
possible, with one of them resulting in a time out for bleeding knee.
SJ came through in the end winning the second in tough11/9.
The third was very one sided, SJ is deceptively fast around the court
and has an amazing reach into the front and this really helped her suck
up the pressure that Kanzy was trying put her under at the front of the
court. SJ keep forward on the court and volleyed more and won the third
11/2.
The fourth was more evenly battled again, but with SJ’s constant
pressure, a few more desperate dives from Kanzy and SJ taking the ball
early helped her pull away at the end of the game and finally take the
match 11/9.
Sarah-Jane said afterwards ‘I thought I stuck in well there. She caught
me a bit off guard in the first game going short. I haven’t played the
Weymuller before and it took a bit of time to get used to the court.
Kanzy beat me last time we played back in June so it was to get my
revenge!”
The last match on the championship court went on court very late due to
all the very long and exciting squash previously. This match was
between last year’s Weymuller Champion Alison Waters from England who
is world # 4, against former world # 4 Joelle King from New Zealand.
Joelle has just recently come back from a serious achilles injury and
is gradually clawing her way back up the world rankings to her rightful
spot again. Alison is in the lead in the head to head, 4-2, but with
both players playing a fast attacking game from the T, we knew it would
an excellent match.
This match was of a very high caliber of squash with both players
hitting deep, tight drives into the corners and volleying everything
they could. Their movement was clean and sharp and there were very few
lets unlike some of the previous matches.
Joelle managed to control the T more than Alison in the first, the
rallies were long and hard fought but Joelle came through 11/6.
Alison found her rhythm in the second and starting finding her targets
in the back and allowing her to use the middle of the court more and
finish the rallies off at the front. Alison went through to win 11/8 to
make the match even at 1-1.
The third game was the hardest of them all and ended up being the most
crucial of the match. Both players were vying for the T and keeping the
pace high and aggressive. There were some wonderful attacking volleys
and deep dying lengths and it was Joelle that eventually sneaked the
third 14-12.
Alison pushed hard but never really got her control back after the
mammoth third game and Joelle went through to win 11/8 to make it the
third upset of the night!
Joelle said after her win “It was tough for both of us after such long
matches before. I think we both came out well considering. She’s a
tough competitor and we’ve had so many battles over the years and it’s
so nice to be back on court with her. The third game was a turning
point and I think it took a lot out of both of us, but when you win
those games it can give you a spring in your step again. I’m looking
forward to playing SJ, we’ve only played once before”.
So here ends another incredibly exciting night of squash at The Heights
Casino. The quality of the matches tonight was fantastic and the
matches were so enjoyable to watch.
We all look forward to the second half of the first round starting at 5.30pm tomorrow night. See you again soon!
Summary of Thursday night's 1st round (split first round) results….
5.30pm Salma Hany Ibrahim beat Laura Massaro 12/10, 8/11, 11/7, 4/11, 11/9.
6.15pm Joshana Chinappa beat Emma Beddoes 4/11, 16/14, 11/7, 11/4.
7.00pm Sarah-Jane Perry beat Kanzy Emad El Defrawy 5/11, 11/9, 11/2, 11/9.
7.45pm Joelle King beat Alison Waters 11/6, 8/11, 14/12, 11/8.
Friday is the second half of the first round matches.….
