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?!?!

GRANITE CLUB OPEN 2012

TORONTO (26TH – 29TH MARCH 2012)

Monday 26th March: Round 1

Opponent: Thaisa Serafini
Country: Brazil
World Ranking: 61
RESULT: Won 3-0; 11/5 11/6 13/11

I had a good start to the match, playing the game i wanted to play, and getting a good feel of the court conditions.
Thaisa fought harder in the third and i had to stay focused in order not to let the third slip away.

On Sunday morning I had a little accident by cutting my playing hand with a broken glass. I managed to practice with it, and strategically placed some band aids to cushion it well …and fortunately it held up nicely during the match.

Tuesday 27th March: Quarter Finals

Opponent: Tesni Evans
Country: Wales
World Ranking:  55

Tesni caused an upset by beating Olivia 3-0 (WR no.45), so she will definitely bring her A game tonight…and so will I, band aids and all.

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

ATWATER CUP 2012

MONTREAL (20th – 23rd March 2012)

Line Hansen

Kasey Brown

Round 1: Monday 20th March

Opponent: Line Hansen
Country: Denmark
World Ranking: No.24
Tournament Seed: 5 
Result: Lost 3-2; 8/11 11/8 11/5 6/11 11/7

 

I knew the match would be a tough one, considering I had played her twice before and lost 3-0 on both occassions. Even though i lost  the match, i am not entirely disappointed because i was able to put into play the things i have been working on, and have seen lots of improvements. The results will eventually come, once the right foundation is put in place. I am very excited to see things falling into place.

I got off to a good start and seemed relaxed and played good squash to move her around the court, and making sure i was placing the ball to a good length. In the second game, she settled down more and my length became a little short. The third game saw me play a few too many errors, but I managed to tighten things up in the 4th game.

She got off to a good start in the fifth and was 3-0 up too early. I was 7-3 down before i realised i needed to dig a little deeper and keep her behind me, because she was already showing signs that she had been working harder than me – but unfortunately i had given her too big a lead, which an experienced player like her knows how to capitalise on. 

All in all, a better performance, could almost taste victory, but as they say “almost doesn’t count”, so I will just have to make it count next time. I also got a chance to train with Kasey Brown, World No.7 the day before my match…that was nice!

NEXT UP…

Granite Open 2012, Toronto
26th – 29th March 

Watch this space. Full results on:
http://www.squashsite.co.uk/2009/atwatercup2012.htm