Sobhy, Cornett Lose In WSA Weymuller Qualifying Finals by Linda Elriani October 2, 2013
- Tonight was the last evening of the qualification at the 2013 Carol
Weymuller Open. It’s always an exciting round as it really is all or
nothing…main draw or out! The matches were very exciting and a
fantastic display of how athletic and amazingly skilled the top women
squash players are.
Our stands were packed
again with keen and inspired members and our juniors where also busy
collecting autographs from the WSA players.
The first match on our
championship court tonight was between World #18 and Denmark’s favorite
player Line Hansen and England’s World #46 Lisa Aitken. The match
got off to a close start with both players even at 5-5 but then Line
started to pull away hitting some great tight drives putting Lisa under
pressure and making her work hard to take the T. Line took the first
11-5.
The second Line got a
good lead and Lisa’s length was too short and so she wasn’t able to
push Line deep enough on the court. Line had very good shot selection
and forced Lisa to play reactive squash. Line own the second 11-3.
In the third it was
Lisa that got a lead at 6-4 and she started to play much more
aggressively and took the ball in short really well. Line pushed
through to try and regain her control and there were some great rallies
with wonderful retrieving and a few errors from each player started to
come in here and there as the third game got closer and more tense. In
the end Line came through 11-9 and was clearly relieved as she said
“I’m really happy to win in 3! I think Lisa has improved so much in the
last 6 months and she’ll be one to watch for in the future. I’m really
looking forward to tomorrow with no pressure!”
Second on was Canadian
and world #32 Samantha Cornett against Canadian based English woman
Victoria Lust who is #35 on the WSA world rankings. Sam started off
very shaky and couldn’t seem to settle and made a lot of unforced
errors and before we knew it Vicky had a 9-1 lead. Sam started to find
her game a little but Vicky took advantage of her great lead and took
the first 11-3. In the second Vicky got off to a great start hitting
some great lengths and really keeping Sam pinned back and got a 5-3
lead. Sam stayed calm and focused and started to find a deep
penetrating length and then her opportunities to take the ball in short
started to appear. Sam came back to even at 6-6 and with some lovely
precise drop shots she went through in almost one hand to take the
second 11-7.
The third game was
crucial and both players were steady and focused. The game stayed even
most of the way through until Vicky hit a few perfect volley
drops at the right moment to take a small lead of 10-8. Sam did some
amazing retrieving to save the first game ball but Vicky ended up
taking the third game 11-9.
The fourth game Sam
started to step back in the court a little and it give Vicky the chance
to take the ball earlier and really put the pressure on. Vicky keep a
lead the whole way though the final game and came through to win it
11-6.
Vicky said after the
match “I feel good and relieved! I’m just happy to win. It’s been hard
to win here in the past. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’s good
experience whoever I play. All the qualifying spots are tough!”
After the second match
finished we had a brief interval with for our “Meet the Greet’ with the
Pro’s. We like to get all the pros to stand up and introduce themselves
to the crowd. This year we had fantastic music set up by Annelize for
the whole evening in between matches and for the Meet and Greet. Each
player that came up in front of the crowd had a special clip of music
especially picked for them by Annelize. It was very entertaining and
fun. Thanks Annelize!
Third match on court
was world #19 English based Nicolette Fernandes from Guyana and world
#23 and budding young star from the USA Amanda Sobhy who is also
currently a Harvard student. This was definitely the match of the
evening and it was the most attritional and exciting too. All the
rallies were fought incredibly hard for by both players and it was a
wonderful example of great retrieving and l unging, variation of pace
and amazing use of the court. It almost seemed unfair to have one of
the players not qualify!
Nicolette took an
early lead in the first but both players were playing great attacking
squash and really using each corner of the court to out maneuver their
opponent. Nicolette was just a little bit tighter with her lengths and
it was enough to get her through the first 11-8. The last rally of the
game was full of crazy gets and Nicolette was getting pressured balls
back that didn’t seem possible!
The second started a
little edgy but soon both players were back into their rhythm and the
game was back to the amazing caliber it had been in the first.
Nicolette squeezed out a lead and got up 8-5 and then 9-7. Nicolette
then made a couple of errors and Amanda was soon back knocking on the
door and hit a perfect backhand drive which Nicolette dove for but
couldn’t reach. Nicolette got the first game ball at 10-9 but Amanda
was hanging in there and after another amazing breathtaking rally
Amanda equalized at 10-10. Nicolette then hit a perfect drive and then
a weak return of serve from Amanda onto Nicolette’s backhand for a
perfect volley kill took Nicolette 2-0.
Amanda showed amazing
determination and strength as she could have felt demoralized after
losing the second game so closely, but she came out strong and
continued the battle. There was a great variation in pace in the 3rd
and each point fought for hard and long. Both players started to hit a
few unforced errors as the retrieving was so great that they were going
finer and finer to win the point. Amanda battled through and managed to
cut out the earlier errors and got her first game ball at 10-9.
Nicolette saved it with a perfect forehand drop for ¾ of the way back
on the court. At 11-10 Amanda had her second game ball and this time
she took her chance and won the game 12-10.
Nicolette had a great
start in the fourth and got a 5-1 lead. The hot bouncy conditions where
now starting to favor Nicolette more than Amanda. Nicolette was
managing to hit consistent great width on her cross courts and take
away Amanda’s amazing middle court game around the T. Amanda lost
the length that was serving her so well earlier in the match and
started going short prematurely. Amanda was starting to look a little
tired while Nicolette was still moving around the court with amazing
grace and speed. Amanda had one last hard push but Nicolette managed to
gallantly come through 11-8 to take the match.
Nicolette said after
the match “I feel really good. I think it’s the first time that I have
qualified for a 16 draw gold tournament! At this point I want to play
all the girls and I don’t care who I have to play tomorrow!”
A red faced sad
looking Amanda said “It was tough! I just wanted to qualify and this is
my third year to lose closely in the qualifying finals! I’m going back
to Harvard tomorrow to study. Good luck to Nicolette and I’ll play her
again at the US Open!
My feeling is that if
Amanda can play this well while she is studying at college then what
will she be capable of once she has graduated and trains full time!?!
Watch out everyone!
Our last match of the
evening, but certainly not least was World # 21 from England Sarah
Kippax against Irelands Aisling Blake ranked just one spot behind Sarah
at World #22. This was the second five setter of the evening and with
the courts being so hot the rallies were long and hard fought. Aisling
was clearly trying to keep the pace slower and Sarah was trying to keep
attacking and play her game plan.
The first game was very close and a couple of unforced errors from Aisling at the end gave Sarah the first 11-9.
In the second Sarah
had a shaky start and Aisling hit some great lengths and got a lead at
7-4. Sarah tried to put the pressure back on but Aisling went on to
even up the match at 1-1.
In the third is was
Aisling that controlled the game and Sarah lacked the patience that she
had in the first game. A few unforced errors and Aisling took the third
11-6.
Sarah got a good start
in the fourth and really managed to get Aisling deeper on the court and
use her great volley drops to finish the rallies taking a 6-3 lead.
Sarah did a big push and it was Aisling’s turn to make a few errors on
her lobs and Sarah went through to win the 4th 11-8.
In the fifth the game
was even right through till 4-4 but then Sarah made several unforced
errors and Aisling capitalized on this and went through from being down
5-6 to win the game 11-6.
Aisling said after the
qualifying draw was done “It was brutally hot! It is the first time
that I’ve qualified for the Weymuller so I’m very happy with that! I
tried to slow it down against Sarah. We had some brutally long rallies
and I did what I needed to so to neutralize her pace. I’m looking
forward to playing Laura tomorrow and another great day in Brooklyn
Heights!”
Congratulations to all
the players who qualified. All the matches were such great quality
squash and everyone thoroughly enjoyed them. The first round matches
start tomorrow night at 5.30pm and we are all very much looking forward
to watching some more of the amazing squash.
Wednesday results:
Line Hansen beat Lisa Aitken 11-5, 11-3, 11-9.
Victoria Lust beat Samantha Cornett 11-3, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6.
