[1] Patrick Rooney (ENG) 3-0 [14] Dewald van Niekerk (RSA) 12-10, 11-7, 11-3 (39m)
Patrick
I was aware of how dangerous he was, he is very solid to the back, doesn’t do a lot wrong.
He matched me on my length hitting in accuracy, so I was lucky he was a bit short moving to the front because when I got the opportunity, I felt I could expose him a lot of the time. His movement was a bit slow, but that’s because of yesterday’s match, if he was fresh, it would have been a lot tougher.
I got a bit lucky but I started to do a job and get off in three, so I was happy I managed to do that.
I have no idea who I’m playing tomorrow…
[9] Simon Herbert (ENG) 3-1 [3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 11-5, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7 (46m)
Simon
I was up 7/1, as I knew I needed a good start against him. He’s been on tour for a long time, he’s got a lot of experience, but over the last couple of years, he started to get a bit slower. And I really made use of that.
In the second, I was still playing very well, but I lapsed of focus, and he took advantage of that, like I said, he is so experienced.
I wouldn’t say it was weird to see Mosaad down 7/1, but it’s known that he can come back from 7/1 down, and I was really focused on that.
Trying to qualify for those Diamond events is tough, but that’s what sport is. It’s very brutal, very hard. You can get some brutal first rounds, and it definitely shows the quality of the players, and if you can back three good matches up, which hopefully I’ll do tomorrow, whether win or lose, as long as I play well, I’m happy.
However, breaking into that top and getting in those tournaments requires a lot of experience; it’s tough, but it’s good.
