[6] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0 [9/16] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) 11-8, 13-11, 16-14 (36m)
Tinne Gillis came through three challenging games against Egypt’s Aboelkheir. Gilis, who had previously never reached the last eight of the Egyptian Open, was tested to the limit by the 18-year-old in a match that was far closer than suggested by the 3-0 scoreline.
In a stop-start first game, Gilis edged ahead with an 11-8 win.
Aboelkheir was on top for much of the second game, leading at 6-4 and going game ball up at 11-10. The Egyptian, however, could not convert, with Gilis moving into a 2-0 lead after taking the second game 13-11.
The final game was also played on a knife-edge, with both players squandering game ball opportunities. Eventually, though, Gilis was able to break through the deadlock, edging it 16-14 to seal her progress.
Tinne : I was expecting a bad match, as all the matches I played with her were pretty terrible. And I’m not saying it’s all on her, it’s also because the quality is not good because of the situation.
So I knew it was going to happen at same point. I knew that if there was a lot of traffic issues, a lot of discussions with the ref, I would have to play a tighter squash, putting the ball far away from her as much as possible.
Towards the end, it got a bit better, although it was messy half way. It’s so hard to focus throughout the whole match when there are a lot of stops and starts.
I have to say I’m really happy to win in 3, I know that in El Gouna, it was in 4 and it was about the same. You know, I don’t like discussing and chatting to the ref all the time, I don’t like that squash at all, and I don’t like short rallies, that’s more of her game. I needed to adjust a bit better, that’s why I’m just happy that I played three games, and then I can forget about it, and focus on the next match, trying to play a squash I actually like to play.
I’m playing the winner of Nour El Sherbini and Amina Orfi. To be fair, Nour has had Sabrina first round then Amina, she’s got a tough draw and although she is number one seed, I feel she’s got the shortest straw!
She’s definitively going to have a tough challenge tonight, and I hope they are going to be a long five setter! Joke appart, Nour and I are very good friends, she is really a nice person, she is such a role model for all the squash players, like Nicol David or Raneem were.. Those players inspire me ….
