El Weleily and Massaro To Play For Weymuller Title
Alison Waters
Nour El Sherbini and her parents
Pros and Heights Casino juniors
September 30, 2012 - World #2 Raneem El Weleily squeezed past countrywoman Nour El Sherbini 11-9 in the fourth last night, and Laura Massaro took care of Alison Waters in three, as today's final is set in the $50,000 Carol Weymuller Open in Brooklyn, New York.
Linda Elriani files this report:
Semi finals day is here at the 2012 Carol Weymuller Open. Everyone was excited to see some more action packed squash as the quarter final matches were so entertaining and such a tribute to how strong and amazing women’s professional squash is.
Before the semi finals began we held a ‘Play a Pro’ event for our juniors so that they had a chance to get on court with some of the top women’s squash players in the world. World # 4 Jenny Duncalf, world # 14 Rachael Grinham, World # 19 Jaclyn Hawkes, World # 22 Sarah Kippax, World # 17 Donna Urquhart and World # 28 Latasha Khan, World # 12 Joelle King and World # 5 Madeline Perry all very kindly agreed to play with our two groups of juniors. The juniors all had such a fun time, trying their hardest to win a point or two off the pros! Thanks so much to the WSA players for taking part in this. We really appreciate it. They are all a huge credit to women’s squash as they are so prepared to give back to the tournaments and help spread the joy of playing squash. After the Play a Pro it turned into a really fun game of ¾ court where the pros were playing with their opposite hand that they normally do! It looked like Jaclyn would be the highest in that ranking from what I sure J
The first semi final today was between the two best Egyptian players in the world, the defending champion and world # 2 Raneem El Weiley and the amazing 16 year old world # 7 Nour El Sherbini. In the head to head they are 2-1 in Raneem’s favor but Nour beat Raneem 3-1 in the last match that they played, so it was going to be interesting to see who could make it through to the final.
In the first game Raneem got off to a good start and was soon 6/1 up. She was much more patient than she had been yesterday, but there were still plenty of short shots being played by both players, some going in perfectly and some in the tin. The ball was being played all around the court with different shot selections nearly every hit. Raneem put in some great holds and wrong footed Nour and soon went through to win the first game 11/6.
The second game was very similar with Raneem taking a 6/3 lead. Both players played some really outstanding winners with holds and flicks but also a large amount of unforced errors. It was as if the players were worried that if they didn’t go short and try to win the point as soon as possible that their opponent might do it first. Nour gave a big push and equalized the game at 8/8, but Raneem came through strong to win the second 11/9.
It was Nour’s turn to gain the lead in the third and she hit an array of perfect backhand drops and volley drops from the back corner, middle and front. Nour can be lethal on that backhand side if the length isn’t good enough. Nour started to be more patient and moving the ball around the court and waiting for her openings better. Raneem for the first time in the match was starting to react to Nour’s game. Nour came through to win the third game 11/9.
In the fourth Raneem came out firing and was very accurate and error free, taking a 4/1 and then 6/3 lead. Nour needed to get her serve on the side wall as Raneem hit several cross court volley nicks off of them allowing her to win easy points.. There were a series of amazing rallies, Raneem made a couple of mistakes and Nour found her patience again and pulled back to 7/8.
Raneem pushed on and tried to take the ball early and came through the fourth 11/8 to take her to her second Weymuller final in a row.
Raneem said after her win “I’m very very very very happy! I put too much pressure on myself. Playing the younger players is not fun! They remind me of myself but a better version! Both players are very very good and they have the best experience and have very strong games. I hope that I play well.”
Nour said after her semi-final match “I feel great. I think I played good. The last 2 games were so close. It was a little bit of bad luck. Raneem was so good and her shots were so good. She’s playing great. Now we are going to learn the steps for the Flash mob on Monday! I’m looking forward to the US Open and I play a qualifier first round so I don’t who I play yet. I hope that I do even better there.”
The second semi final match was a totally English affair with Laura Massaro world # 3 playing giant killer Alison Waters currently world # 9. Both players are amazing athletes and very steady and accurate so the quality of the squash was bound to be fantastic. Alison is up 7-3 in the head to head but Laura has had a great season too so would be doing her best to get a win over Alison.
Laura started off the match very well and very quickly found her rhythm and was moving well and moving Alison around the court. You could see Alison trying her hardest to regain some of the spark that she had in last night’s match but she was looking less fresh than Laura due to how physically hard she had to work to beat Nicol. There were some great rallies but Laura always seems that little more in control. Laura came through to win the first game 11/7.
The second game started pretty evenly and the points went back and forth but gradually Laura edged forward on the score board to take a 9-5 lead. Laura was playing a perfect combination of slowing the ball down and attacking which added to Alison not being to find her rhythm. Alison kept trying to push up and control the middle but to no avail as Laura won the second 11/7.
In the third Laura came out on fire playing a very precise game and keeping a constant pressure on what looked like a tired Alison and was very soon 6/0 up. Laura made her first unforced error at 9/4 up but Alison couldn’t capitalize on this and Laura won the final game 11/4.
A smiling Laura said “I’m really happy. I thought I played really well today and managed to stick to my tactics and stay focused for most of the match. I thought Ali looked like she was struggling a little bit and I tried to keep the pace up for the entire match. I’m really looking forward to playing in a Gold final.”
Alison commented “It was a good learning curve after yesterday. Laura played really well and didn’t give me anything. It’s tough to back it up after yesterday but it’s something I’ll need to learn to do in the future. I’m looking forward to a few days rest and then getting ready for the US Open.”
Congratulations to both winners and we very much look forward to the final tomorrow
Tomorrow’s final is between Raneem El Weiley and Laura Massaro at 2pm and everyone is so excited to see who will be the 2012 Carol Weymuller Champion. See you then
Summary of Saturday's semi finals..
Raneem El Weleily beat Nour El Sherbini 11/6, 11/9, 9/11, 11/9
Laura Massaro beat Alison Waters 11/7, 11/7 11/4
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