Tomato Ho (HKG) 3-1 Enora Villard (FRA) 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6 (49m)
Rachel Arnold (MAS) 3-1 [WC] Nour Heikal (EGY) 18-16, 10-12, 11-3, 12-10 (44m)
Alexandra Fuller (RSA) 3-0 Anna Serme (CZE) 11-2, 11-5, 11-4 (20m)
Tomato Ho:
“I’m feeling really good because last week I had COVID and so for eight days I had no training at all, I was just stuck in my room. Luckily I was able to train for a few days afterwards and got a bit of game work back and thankfully I still managed to get the win today.”
I played against Hania El Hammamy last year in the second round of the PSA World Champs, with El Hammamy winning 3-0]. I’m looking forward to this match because she’s in the top three players in the world and I hope I can play better and put on a good performance for the audience!”
Alex
I was focusing on not letting my mind overthink everything, I just wanted to play freely and put as much pressure on her I could. I played her in El Gouna, and she was struggling with that elbow, and I think she was struggling with it today as well.
World No.34 Rachel Arnold was able to overcome wildcard Nour Heikal to advance to round two in the first match on the glass court.
Arnold took the first game 18-16, but 18-year-old Heikal made life uncomfortable for her opponent throughout, and she levelled the score when she won the second game 12-10. However Arnold prevailed in games three and four 11-3 and 12-10, respectively, and she will face another Egyptian tomorrow in round two in Rowan Elaraby.
Rachel
“I was so nervous that I don’t think I could control it, but it feels great to get through to the next round. I got a wildcard and you never know what it’s like with these young Egyptians.
“She was feisty and she was fighting a lot. I really had to control my nerves a lot and try to be confident. It’s the start of the season and it’s my first tournament so hopefully I can carry that on tomorrow.”
