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.

WASHINGTON DC CHAMP

Finals vs Lauren Selby

Semi-finals vs Misaki Kobayashi

Re-grouping in between games

Prizegiving

Victory Hug

Organiser and Sponsor: Squash on Fire

Some lady Fans!!!!

VICTORY IN WASHINGTON

This was a great tournament, where the organisers treated us like royalty. All the players got the stay at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where the squash club was also situated.

Quater-Final
Opponent: Katie Tutrone
Nationality: USA
World Ranking: 272
Result: Won 3-0; 11/3 11/3 11/7

Katie is a 16 year junior player who was playing in her first WISPA event. I will not want to play against her in a few years time. South Africa should also learn from this and expose their juniors to playing in such events.

Semi Final
Opponent: Misaki Kobayashi
Nationality: Japan
World Ranking: 53
Tournament Seed: 3
Result: Won 3-2; 1/11 8/11 11/8 12/10 11/9

This was a tough match, as you can see by the score. I started off a little slowly, and my opponent was not giving me an opportunities to settle in. The second game was a little better, bit I made too many unforced errors. Misaki is quick around the court, so rallies became long with both of us working hard. In the fourth, i was 8/10 down, match ball to Misaki, and managed to save the game after a monster rally. At 10/10 I found two cross court nicks that helped me win the game and save the match.
The 5th game was physically rough with a lot of lets and strokes, but i tried to focus on each point and fight til the end…which seemed to help. I’m just happy that match was over and in my favour. Next time, i know i’ll be starting from scratch.

Finals
Opponent: Lauren Selby
Nationality: England
World Ranking: 57
Tournament Seed: 2
Result: WON 3-1; 11/6 12/10 12/14 11/2

Lauren in a very crafty player, with delays and great touch to the front. I knew i had to play aggressively against her. I mixed up the pace too where it was needed, as she is good at taking the ball out of the air when it is loose. In the second game, i was up 6-0, but lost my head to make it 6-6. In the fourth game i was up 9-3, but again, allowed Lauren to catch up to 9-9. In the 4th game i was up 9-1, but finally got the full focus to help finish off the game without letting her back in. Giving away 6 points in a row, twice, is unacceptable at this level. I’ll need to work on that.

In the mean time…THREE CHEERS FOR MY SECOND WISPA TITLE!!!!!

Next Up
Orange County Open, California (8th – 11th September 2011)