[4] Siva Subramaniam (Mas) 3-1 [wc] Nadia Mahmoud (Egy) 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (36m)
The 16-year-old WC Nadia Mahmoud, making her World Events debut this week in Cairo, has taken a shock one-game lead over World No.5 Sivasangari Subramaniam, The first qualified for the Olympics had to find her focus and accuracy today, against a completely fearless and talented Egyptian Junior… Why do I have the feeling I used those words before many, many times…
I don’t think respect is quite the right word, but they don’t see who you are; they just play. Whether you’re world number one or world number 100, they go in with the same mentality: they want to beat you. I think that’s what she came out with.
Obviously I knew that. I’ve been there, I’ve played against them for so many years, and I think I have more experience than her, so I’m glad I managed to find a way. It’s my first match as well, so I’m happy with how I came back. There’s obviously a lot more to improve. I’ll watch it back and learn from this match, and since it’s just the start of the tournament, I hope I can improve in the next round.
I stuck to my game plan, but my length wasn’t right: the consistency was falling a bit short. The game plan overall didn’t change much, it was more about how I was playing, especially accuracy. I watched her yesterday, so I knew what she’s capable of and what her strengths are. I tried to stick to my game plan and not change just because she was one-love up.
It was very important for me to stay calm, because it’s easy to get carried away with these juniors, and then you get so stressed that you can’t play your game. I think I kept my nerves calm, and I’m glad I managed to find my accuracy and consistency.
Baptiste [Siva’s boy friend] was very supportive, and he helped a lot to calm me down and focus on the match rather than overthink. He had a tough loss yesterday [against Junior Asal], so I’m very grateful and thankful that he came to support me today.
We debriefed beforehand with Greg, and it’s a tricky situation for him as well as Anahat was playing at the same time, but having him in my corner is always great. We support each other well with Baptiste. Even with his tough loss, I think he tried to put that away and support me, which means a lot to me. I’m happy with how I got through today.
