The first upset as Farida Mohamed downs SJ Perry to join Camille Serme, Rowan Elaraby and Nour El Sherbini in R3
[3] Camille Serme (Fra) 3-0 [9/16] Yathreb Adel (Egy) 11-3, 11-2, 11-3 (17m)
[8] Rowan Elaraby (Egy) 3-1 [9/16] Olivia Fiechter (Usa) 15-13, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5 (49m)
Farida Mohamed (Egy) 3-1 [5] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 12-10 (36m)
[1] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) 3-0 Emily Whitlock (Wal) 11-7, 12-10, 11-5 (31m)
report and quotes to follow …
Last year was a big upset when Farida took out Sarah-Jane out of the event, on the second round of the Egyptian Pen, 3/0. This year, the Bazooka knew that SJ would wait for her and be much more ready. But still, the Egyptian was able to impose again her physicality and skills today.
A few contacts, the English pretty unhappy with the line the ref took of giving no lets where in her opinion it was simple lets. Two no lets in the last game “were a game changer” commented the Gladiator…
Farida : Yes, we are both very tall, but I feel SJ is double my size ! I just try and move her as much as I can. I don’t think I was blocking or on the way, I just actually trying to keep her away from me as much I could, to be able to play actually, as she is very tall.
She pushed me more than once, I don’t mind because I’m sure she didn’t mean it, it’s part of the game. I was satisfied with my movement today, I don’t think I did anything, and the ref didn’t mention anything.
I had the exact same plan than last time, I didn’t change much, mainly not to play more than two shots on the same side to try and twist/turn her and keep her away from the T, going to the front corner, moving her to the front and getting the T back.
Because I was playing SJ, I have to say I didn’t think about tomorrow tactic yet. I’m playing Jasmine on the backcourt. I just take each match at a time, so now, I’m going to enjoy my win for an hour, rest and then think about how should I play tomorrow.
SJ : When she goes short on the backhand, she doesn’t give you a line and the referee can’t see it. So at the end, I asked the referee very calmly to have a look at the match again. She won the match, fine. But he needs to look at that line because I know I’m going on the line and every time, she steps back into it.
I got 2 no lets at the end, and there is no way they were no lets. No way. That actually made a difference in the match. Yes, I didn’t play well enough, but I was fighting, but when you feel you are fighting and something out of your control that is unfair changes the match, it’s very very very frustrating.
It’s not an isolated situation to this math or to Farida. It just happens sometimes, and I think the referees try to give something else than a let. And I felt that today, anything that could have been should have been a let, were given no lets against me.
You always have your rose tinted glasses on of course, but it’s hard when you are not getting out the level of squash you’ve practising and playing.
She did play well, some unbelievable shots in there, on any other court, on any other day, with any other ball, I would have got back (she smile) but she hit them, and she kept hitting them. Fair play to her for that.
It was not my finest day. You try to keep doing what you can and today unfortunately wasn’t my day.
Nour : It’s quite hard to play on a traditional court, you get used to play on the glass.
I didn’t have much time training at home. I would have like to rest my legs a bit. I only started training a week ago. First round on the traditional court, no easy. And Emily was playing very well, she’s got a very good lob and drop game.
I’m playing Daniella again, like last year at the Pyramids, a rematch tomorrow. Good to be back on the glass.
I’d love to have some rest to be honest. We have a lot of tournaments all together, and the travelling as well, since May June, we haven’t been at home a lot. A lot of travelling, event, back home, event, travelling… and also a lot of big events one after each other.
I feel I’m a bit physically tired. My body is not 100% fresh, struggling a bit. Going to the US Open, again there, very few days to recover from this one before going on the road again.
But happy to play here, it’s one of my favourite tournaments…
