[9] Lauren Baltayan (FRA) 3-0 Lucia Bautista (COL) 11-7, 11-4, 11-5 (29m)
Lauren
Happy to come through 3/0 and not drop a game, because she’s a dangerous opponent – I’ve seen her play and even beat a top-40 player. So I knew I had to be careful and I prepared well with my coach, Ahmed Effat, who I’ve been working with for three years now.
I play for BlackBall Club, but Ahmed and I train at the Stadium.
Tomorrow I’m up against Malak – we’ve only ever played each other in practice. It’s the start of the season, so none of us really know where we stand physically yet, but we’ll make sure to prepare properly with Ahmed.
Malak Fathy (EGY) 3-2 [7] Emilia Soini (FIN) 11-6, 9-11, 12-10, 5-11, 14-12 (51m)
Match not to miss, incredible battle, fair, intense, lots of attacks and a lot of running from both!
To be fair, nothing between them the whole match, and the last game itself is a classic!
4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 10/8 match ball to the Egyptian, the first one of 5 match balls for young Malak, Emilia kept saving them, some tough calls at the end, but it’s finally Malak that clinches her win, 11m last game, 14/12 – longest of the match…
Malak
It got really tough at the end.
I was two match balls up, 10/8, then I lost them both. And I kept losing the match balls, one after the other! So I had to go back to my game plan, and not give her time on the ball.
I’m happy how I managed to execute the long drop shots I have been practising, my backhand drops. That worked well today. But my basic game was not good enough. I wasn’t reaching the back corners, and that allowed her to play too many volleys.
I will go and watch some of Lauren’t matches, and prepare a game plan with my coach.
