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 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?!?!

NEW WORLD RANKING

It’s a start of a new month,and the world rankings have been updated.

WE’RE NO.44!! YEAH!!

We’ve finally cracked the Top 50…another milestone reached!
This calls for a celebration. WHOOO HOOOO!!!

Ranking History

Oct 2011: No.44
Sep 2011: No.51
Aug 2011: No.52
Jul 2011: No.63
Jun 2011: No.60
May 2011: No.64
Apr 2011: No.64
Mar 2011: No.78
Feb 2011: No.78
Jan 2011: No.63
Dec 2010: No.75
Nov 2010: No.77

NEXT UP:

Kuwait Open
6th – 9th October

PHOENIX SEMI FINALS

Semi Finals:
Friday 16th September (evening session)
Opponent: Nicolette Fernandes
Nationality: Guyana
World Ranking: 46
Tournament Seed: No.5
Result: Lost 2-3; 5/11 3/11 11/9 13/11 7/11

Nicolette caused an upset in the Quarter Finals by beating the no.2 seed. She was ranked in the Top 30 before she suffered a major injury. The match between us was tough. I didn’t know what to expect. I started out quite relaxed…maybe too relaxed because i was down 2-0 in games before i knew what happened. I would have been really disappointed if the third game turned out to be a repeat of the previous one, but i received strength to fight…and boy did i fight for each point. The rallies had to be longer, the pace had to be mixed up, and i had to keep moving her around the court – not fearing to attack the ball. In the last game, my length got a little shorter again, giving her more opportunities to control the rallies. In the 5th, she had a 5-1 lead which i managed to close down to 5-4. the 6-4, 7-4, 8-4, 5-8, 9-5, 10-5, 6-10, 7-10, then an unfortunate stroke against me, which gave her the match at 11-7. Lots of lessons learnt. Overall, I am happy that i was able to fight back after a poor start. I probably need to work on that somehow – starting strong.

All in all, it has been a great and successful USA Tour. We will wait for the new rankings at the beginning of October with eager anticipation.

UPCOMING EVENTS FOR OCTOBER

KUWAIT OPEN
6th-9th October

CHINA OPEN
11th-14th October

QATAR OPEN
15th -17th October

SPANISH OPEN
19th-22nd October
(My hubby will be joining me on this trip!! Looking forward to it.)

PHOENIX QUARTER FINALS

Quarter Finals:
Friday 16th September (morning session)
Opponent: Sarah Cardwell
Nationality: Australia
World Ranking: 68
Tournament Seed: Qualifier
Won: 3-1; 5/11 11/0 11/4 13/11

I had another slow start to match and got punished for it. Sarah moved well around the court, practically doing splits whenever it was needed. It seems i managed to move her around enough to make her splits ineffective, and begin to sap the energy out of her. In the last game i was 7-2 down, and managed to come back well enough to close the game off.

My next match is gonna be a tough opponent, a real fighter. She is a great person off court – but takes no prisoners on court.

Semi Finals:
Friday 16th September (evening session)
Opponent: Nicolette Fernandes
Nationality: Guyana
World Ranking: 46
Tournament Seed: No.5

LET THE BATTLE COMMENCE!!!

PHOENIX ROUND 1

Southwest Open
1st Round:
Opponent: Alexandra Norman
Nationality: Canada
World Ranking: 50
Tournament Seed: Unseeded
Won: 3-1; 11/8 9/11 11/8 11/9

Alex is great at slowing the game down and varying her drop shots. I needed to mix up the pace throughout the game, and not be so eager to play cross courts. In the third game, i was up 9-0, and allowed her to come back to 9-8…i really should find a way to get back “in the zone” faster. All in all, i was happy to win that in 4 games.

Quarter Finals:
Opponent: Sarah Cardwell
Nationality: Australia
World Ranking: 68
Tournament Seed: Qualifier

Sarah took out the No.4 seed in the first round, Orla Noom From Netherlands (World No.41) . She is quick and no push-over. I will need to keep it together until the end.

For full results, visit www.squashsite.co.uk

PHOENIX TOURNAMENT

SOUTH WEST OPEN (14TH – 17TH SEPTEMBER 2011)

I am in Phoenix this week, my 3rd and last tournament in the USA. The qualifiers kicked off last night which saw 3 Egyptian girls qualify into the main draw. Tonight is the first round of the main event.

Southwest Open
1st Round:
Opponent: Alexandra Norman
Nationality: Canada
World Ranking: 50
Tournament Seed: Unseeded

I had to play Alex in the World Team Championships in November 2010 when RSA played Canada. I won 3-2, but know that today I will need to start from scratch and work hard in each game.

Watch this space!

CALIFORNIA TOURNAMENT

ORANGE COUNTY OPEN (7TH – 11TH SEPTEMBER 2011)

California is a beautiful place. We were situated in Irvine, which has been voted to be the safest area in the state. The sports clubs are massive, cars are huge, and not too far from here is an area with the highest ownership of Ferrari’s per capita. I had a great host family, with a tremendous hospitality gift and big hearts, and really made me feel at home.

I visited Disneyland for the first time ever with a few squash players. I went to the Laguna Beach with my hostess, Donnella, and we got to see a movie being filmed on the beach – Savages. Apparently the main actors are John Travolta, Salma Hayek, Urma Thurman, amongst others. It will be out September 2012. One of the current biggest basketball stars (the next big thing after Michael Jordan), Kobe Bryant, used the gym we were playing at as his personal training ground. We managed to catch a glimpse of him too!

The squash was always going to be tough, with a strong draw of competitors. A 15year old Egyptian girl made it to the finals, by beating a player 23years her senior in the semi-finals. That’s great for the future of squash. Now to my results…

Orange County Open
1st Round:
Opponent: Diana Elise Garcia
Nationality: Mexico
World Ranking: 235
Tournament Seed: Qualifier
Result: Won 3-1; 11/8 11/7 8/11 11/6 (40 min)

I felt like I was in control of the match, but lost concentration in the third game.

Quater Finals:
Opponent: Dipika Pallikal
Nationality: India
World Ranking: 24
Tournament Seed: 1
Result: Lost 3-0; 11/5 11/6 11/8 (40 mins)

I started quite slowly in this match, but my opponent was not giving me any chances, and putting away every loose shot i gave her. In the second game, I got into a better rhythm, but was still going short too early and making a few unforced errors. The third game was close from the start, played longer rallies which i seemed to win. Dipika is an attacking player, and it really amazes me how well she keeps attacking even when you think she couldn’t possibly pull off a certain shot. Watching her play in the semi-finals made me even more aware that she is playing some great squash at the moment. That’s when you give her a round of applause for this win, and hope you play to your best the next time you meet.