SANTIAGO DE COMPESTELLA OPEN
SPAIN
Squash in Spain turned out to be of a learning experience than I hoped.
I struggled through my matches on the all glass court. The girls matches were scheduled while the afternoon sun was still beaming on court erected in the Area Central Shopping Complex. This made visibility of the ball difficult at times, especially if was a low hard cross court, or high lob. It made me look slow to the front…actually, let me put excuses aside, I was slow to adapting and played the wrong game on it.
1st Round
19th October
Opponent: Catuxa Codesido
Nationality: Spain
World Ranking: 273
Result: Won 3-0, 11/9 11/3 11/5 (14min)
Quarter Finals
20th October
Opponent: Cyrielle Peltier
Nationality: France
World Ranking: 120
Result: Won 3-1
Semi Final
21st October
Opponent: Lisa Aitken
Nationality: Scotland
World Ranking: 68
Result: Lost 3-0, 11/7 11/9 11/5 (18min)
Against Lisa, I fell apart somewhat- maybe “choked” is the word. I wanted it too much and ended up crashing instead. I tried to match her fast paced game, and lost my accuracy along the way. I forgot the new crucial lesson I picked up in Pontefract in July. I hope to bring them to surface again soon.
WORLD OPEN
ROTTEDAM, NETHERLANDS
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Siyoli vs Milou
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Milou
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Kanzy
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Kanzy vs Dipika
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Nour El Sherbini turns 16!
Round 1 Qualifiers
29th October
BYE
Round 2 Qualifiers
30th October
Opponent: Milou van der Heijden
Nationality: Holland
World Ranking: 51
Result: Won 3-1; 4/11 11/4 12/10 11/8 (42min)
Official Media Report:
The last Dutch interest in the qualifying competitions came to an end when Siyoli Waters came from a game down to beat Milou Van Der Heijden before a partisan home crowd.
“Milou made it hard for me, but I also made it difficult for myself,” admitted the South African, “I made a few errors trying to create something out of nothing and lost some good leads.
“You put more pressure on yourself to win when it’s a big event like this, so I’m just aiming to play good squash in my next match and not worry about the score, the opponent or the crowd.”
That next opponent will be Kanzy El Dafrawy who boosted the already impressive Egyptian tally with a 3/1 win over yesterday’s quickest winner Birgit Coufal, although Kanzy needed to refocus after dropping the third game 11/0, which she did to take the fourth 13/11.
More info: http://www.worldopensquash2011.com/index.htm
Round 3 Qualifier
31st October
Opponent: Kanzy El Dafrawy
Nationality: Egypt
World Ranking: 35
Result: Lost 3-0, 11/6 11/4 11/9 (33min)
I didn’t play at my best in the first 2 games, and found myself running aimlessly after balls. In the third game, i got some structure back into my game, but gave her such a big lead at the start that I made it too difficult for myself. Naturally I’m disappointed, but in some sense, am excited about the future and the development of my game.
Kanzy went on to have a great tournement, beating an Egyptian champion and former world no.4, Omneya Abdel Kawy. She was then stopped in her tracts by the up and coming Indian star player, Dipika Pallikal. Another young Egyptian, Nour El Sherbini, celebrated her 16th birthday by beating the world no.13, Donna Urquhart from Australia. These youngsters never cease to amaze me. I guess I’m just going to have to learn to stay “young at heart”.
SIYOLI WATERS 