Lisa Aitken (SCO) 3-2 Nada Abbas (EGY) 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4 (48m)
Lisa
I played Nada a couple of years ago, and the score line was similar, 3/2. So I knew what to expect. Also, I watched her play in Manchester, and I noticed she seems to have one way of playing, and she sticks to it.
So you have to get used to the pace, used to the ball getting very fast on you, she hits as hard as she can, and once you are used to it, you adjust your game. So I tried to slow her down, and disrupted her rhythm as much as I could, also putting the ball in areas she cannot hit the ball from.
I think the minimum crowd played in my favour, had there been a lot of support, maybe things would have been very different.
I think I lacked a bit of courage to take the ball to the front, to step up. As she hit deep, it’s easy to stay at the back and go with the flow.
Today, I’m very happy with my determination. I got food poisoning for two days, and it would have been very easy to take that as an excuse to come out weak. But I knew that if I pushed myself, nothing bad would happen to me. So, happy with the way I pushed. Yes, happy with my determination.
