ALLAM BRITISH OPEN

QUALIFYING ROUNDS 13th – 14th May 2012

For results visit: http://www.britishopensquash.net/category/today/

UCT Open 2012 prizes

Grainger Family Prizegiving

So i lost this one 3-1 in the Finals. I was a little disappointed to have lost, considering i had managed to dominate rallies, but made unforced errors when the opportunities opened up. Milnay play consistently well down the lines, but found myself using the drop shot too early, which allowed her openings to attack, and forced me to use my speed to defend, rather than for attacking.

Anyone who watched my league matches the Monday night, and Tuesday night following the Sunday’s final, would have thought I was taking out all my frustrations on my poor unsuspecting opponents. Well i hope i manage to bring that same fire to the Brisith Open.

I flew out to London on Wednesday to compete in the Allam British Open.
Watch this space…

http://www.britishopensquash.net/sun-13th-day-two-at-st-georges/

UCT KEITH GRAINGER OPEN

4TH – 6TH MAY 2012

The countries top players are coming to the University of Cape Town this weekend. The tournament promises to showcase the best squash that South Africa has to offer. The first two rounds are played on Friday afternoon / evening. The Quarter finals will be on Saturday morning, the Semi’s on Saturday afternooon, with the Finals on Sunday morning/afternoon.

The top female players will include Farrah Sterne (former SA Champion) from Pretoria, Cheyna Tucker from Joburg and Milnay Louw, originally from Cape Town, but now based in Pretoria.

I will be taking part in the women’s event, and my match times could be the following, played at the UCT Sport Centre, Upper Campus:

Friday: 20h30

Saturday :10h00

Saturday: 14h00

The women’s finals will be played at 13h00 on Sunday followed by the men’s finals.
I hope to see some of you Cape Townians coming down to support the event!!!

 

Pity party over

So, Hong Kong didn’t go according to plan – and i let myself become consumed by my disappointment.

I lost in the first round 3-1, where i had a real chance of making it to the semi-finals (according to my seeding). Well, that’s where i’m reminded that you never make assumptions about your opponent’s abilities and concentrate on one match at a time.
I guess i wanted it too much, and panicked rather than draw on my experience when the score line was against me.

It is the University of Cape Town Keith Grainger Open. The tournament honours the late brother of former World No.1 Natalie Grainger. Then it is the British Open after that. So…back to work!

I’M OFF TO HONG KONG

HONG KONG BULER CUP 
19th – 22nd April 2012 

This week I will be attempting to conquer the buzzing city of Hong Kong. I do quite like going there, and I have had the pleasure of visiting it a few times. The squash promises to be as competitive as ever, with players coming from near and far. I am the no.4 seed for the tournament, which is not a bad place to be. I am drawn to play a qualifier in the first round. My half of the draw contains the no.1 seed and world no.6, Rachel Grinham (see pic below). The other half includes seeded players Joey Chan (world #19) from Hong Kong and Emma Beddoes (#24) from England.

My trip this time around will also include me meet up with some people involved with organisations like Chrisitians in Sport, as well as Ambassadors in Sport. They seek to encourage christians competing in sport, at whatever level. Many people may often view christians as “softies” or “weaklings” (depending on your religious history or upbringing) and may feel the world of sport too brutal a place for the “holier than thou” people. Well…clearly that’s not really the case. I believe this is a God-given talent, and i wish to use it not only to kick butt, but to glorify his name! All my strength to keep training and compete comes from Him!

So, watch this space for reporting on upcoming battles!

Full Draw and results:
http://www.horizonsolutions.tv/entry/wispa/calendar.php?gb=ls&tourid=12SQWI0I 

GRANITE CLUB SEMI FINALS

Wednesday 28th March 2012

Opponent: Alison Waters
Country: England
World Ranking; No.35
Highest Ranking: No.3
Result: Lost 3-0; 11/5 11/4 11/4 

 

Oh dear…it’s all over! i drowned, i flunked, i didn’t show up for work last night. In my difficult-to-contain-excitement, i made every rookie error in the book, losing my clarity of thought (and my length) under that pressure … and she was ever the professional her reputation precedes her to be!!! Oh well…i went down fighting a champ! I need more of the matches against these top 10 players!

Full match reports on: http://www.squashsite.co.uk/2009/graniteclub201.htm

All in all, it was a great trip to Canada, my first trip – for the record! Two beautiful cities, hosted by two great families and got to see an old friend from high school and her family, here in Toronto, as well as old squash friend originally from Zimbabwe. Who knew i had so much love waiting for me here?!

NEXT UP

Hong Kong Bueler Open
19th – 23rd April 2012

British Open, London
14th – 20th May 2012 

GRANITE QUARTER FINALS

Tuesday 27th March: Quarter Finals

Opponent: Tesni Evans
Country: Wales
World Ranking:  55
Result: Won 3-0; 11/8 12/10 14/12

Tesni is quick and picks up the ball well and will always throw out some querky shots. She even took a full on dive in the third game. I took a while to settle into hitting a good length, but soon found my rhythm. 

In the first game, we played each other rally for rally, with the scoreline remaining close until 8-7, then i got to 10-8 on two of her errors, before closing out the game. In the second game, i was up 6-1, before playing a few unforced errors because of getting too excited about ending rallies early. I began to construct better rallies, and remained calm in the tie-break. The third game would have been a spectator’s delight, with long rallies, some quick racket work, big lunges and retrieving splits from both players, as well as a dive thrown in there too. I was happy to close the match in three games after she had game ball at 11/10 and 12/11 in the third. 

Wednesday 28th March: Semi-Finals

Opponent: Alison Waters
Country: England
World Ranking: No.35
Highest Ranking: No.3 (Oct 2010)
 

My next match is against Alison Waters, who was the world no.3, who suffered an injury that caused her to be out of a play for approximately a year. This caused her world ranking to plummet, and is now in the process of climbing the ladder again to restore it. She played in Montreal last week and won in the final against the world no.7. Kasey Brown, 3-2. I guess i better bring on the A game … she won’t know what hit her!!!
The refs normally call us by our surnames…I wonder what they will do this time?!?!