[7] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (Egy) 3-2 Anahat Singh (Ind) 11-7, 8-11, 12-14, 11-6, 11-6 (46m)
Absolutely fascinating match. I’m under Anahat’s charm. The frail young girl she seems to be hides a Giant Lobber. The way she is able to lob that ball, at nearly every attack is just something I’ve never seen before.
A very fair match, clean, full of nice moves and shots, low kills galore, glued drives, truly excellent squash.
Two great coaches on the bench, Greg Gaultier for Anahat – who had also Siva playing on the adjacent court – and Omar Abdel Aziz for Fayouz.
Aboelkheir arrives at this year’s Egyptian Open at a career-high rank of World No.6 and following an impressive title win at the Swedish Open. However, after taking the opening game, India’s Singh has fired her way back into this contest with a second-game 11-8 win.
After World Junior Champion Singh had clinched a crucial-looking third-game tie-break, Aboelkheir responded to send the match to a deciding game.
Anahat was such a mature player throughout. Only I felt the last game, maybe a bit of mental fatigue, or just a lack of gas… But what a game, what a game…
Fayrouz : “I’m very happy to get through today. Anahat played amazing. I didn’t produce my best squash, so I’m just really happy to get through to the next round.
“I’m definitely full of confidence overall after Sweden, but it’s a new tournament, new vibes – I’m carrying great momentum but I’m not going to try go for the history. I’m just going to take it a step at a time and try do a new one.
“It’s definitely one of my favourite tournaments, it’s very close to my heart. Every match is just another step back to the pyramids and I’m just looking forward to that.”
