WSA Washington DC Squash On Fire 1st Round Qualifying Report
by Aisling Blake
August 14, 2012 - The top two seeds received byes in the first qualifying round on 14 August of the Squash on Fire WSA event held at the Sports Club/LA in Washington D.C. Nicolette Fernandes (Guyana), the no. 1 seed in qualifying, will now meet Yvonne Diaz of Mexico who ousted Dartmouth College Varsity and Boston-based player Corey Schafer in 4 closely contested games. After losing the 1st game in a tie-break, the Mexican rebounded strongly in the second and won a pivotal 3rd game, again in the tie-breaker (16-14!) which gave her confidence and an unassailable lead in the 4th game.
Celia Allamargot, the no.2 seed on the opposite side of the draw, awaited the outcome of the match between Alex Clark (Scotland) and Cecelia Cortes (USA). A pretty even match-up on paper, the experience of Clark won out in the end with Cortes, a former Harvard team member, conceding 'it's a very different game when you come from playing college squash to playing with these girls'.
Elsewhere in the draw, Lily Lorentzen and 15-year old US No. 1 Junior Sabrina Sobhy guaranteed that at least one qualifier from the U.S.A. will reach the main draw with wins over their opponents. Lorentzen, having perhaps one of the shortest commutes to the event today from New York, battled it out with young Jacqueline Barnes of Chevy Chase, Maryland. The up and coming 17-year old is just back from a training stint in Australia and she was fresh from winning a Junior Silver Men's U19 event last weekend. However, solid play from Lorentzen saw the Greenwich native close out the match in 4 games. Sobhy, sister of former world junior champ Amanda, had a slightly easier run of it, beating Mayar Aly Ezzo of Egypt in 3 straight games.
Another all-Egypt match up will take place on Wednesday courtesy of a straight-set win by Salma Hatem Youssef and Salma Hany over their opponents. Hany showed classic Egyptian flair in her 3-0 victory over Karina Heredia Gonzalez of Mexico, while Youssef displayed her own talents in ousting Katja Amir of Germany.
DRAW
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