Omneya Abdel Kawy Over Samantha Cornett In Carol Weymuller Open First-Round Action By Rob Dinerman Dateline October 2nd
--- The 41st annual Carol Weymuller Open got underway this evening with
a flourish, as Omneya Abdel Kawy displayed remarkable ball control and
court positioning throughout the first main-draw match of the
tournament in subduing Canadian No. 1 Samantha Cornett 11-5, 6 and 3.
Cornett had survived a murderous last-round qualifying match Wednesday
evening when she courageously rallied from 7-10 in the fifth game and
ran off the last five points to 12-10 over Olivia Blatchford. But
tonight she was constantly on the defensive against Kawy's creativity
and shot-making skills, which enabled the 29-year-old Egyptian star to
break away to unassailable leads in the mid-portion of each of the
three games.
Cornett
has improved all aspects of her game in recent years --- she
moves well, gets good leverage on her drives and is fitter than ever
before. But at present she doesn't do enough damage with her mid-court
volley, a telling contrast to Kawy, who has both a superior assortment
of shot options in that situation ---from feathering a drop shot, to
wristing a drive, to lofting a lob --- and the ability do much more
late in her swing than all but a few players on the WSA tour. As a
result, every time her (exceptional) deep game elicited an open ball,
Kawy was able to keep Cornett off balance, not only with the shot she
DID hit but with the several other shots she MIGHT have hit.
Though
the match's tally line implies the opposite, the best-contested game
was actually the third, which Cornett began by moving to a 3-2 lead.
There followed several consecutive fiercely-fought points, marked by
strenuous all-court exchanges, diving retrievals by both players and a
punishing pace. It was clearly Cornett's last stand, and when not one
of those points wound up in her column, she was deflated, spent and
unable to stem Kawy's 9-0 match-closing run. It was still a solid
tournament for Cornett and an excellent performance by Kawy, who now
can rest until Saturday afternoon (this year the main draw is "split,"
with four of the round-of-16 matches tonight and the other four on
Friday), when she will face Nour El Tayeb, a straight-set winner this
evening over Madeline Perry, in the quarterfinals.
