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@carolweymuller
2020 - the PREVIEW
Full 2020 coverage on SquashSite
2018 Final : first for El Tayeb
Linda Elriani reports, photos by Kelley Holmgren
Today was the final day of our 2018 Carol Weymuller Open. It's been a tremendous week of squash and the PSA players have definitely left everyone inspired and motivated.
The tournament is obviously named after Carol Weymuller herself. Carol started the junior squash program here at The Heights Casino many years back with her late husband Fred, and it has obviously grown and expanded along with the sport. We always like to thank Carol for all her hard work and dedication back at the start, as we wouldn't be where we are today with our program if she had not been forward thinking enough to develop squash in this area.
At 7.30pm the bleachers were packed with eager members, anticipating the outcome. Our 2018 finalists were Sarah-Jane Perry from England. She is the world # 8 playing against Nour El Tayeb from Egypt, who is world #3 and the 2017 US Open Champion. Both players looked bouncy and eager to go on knowing this was their last huge effort after a very successful and tiring week at the Weymuller.
Nour and Sarah-Jane will go off to Hong Kong soon and their next big PSA event of 2019 will be back in NYC for the TOC in Grand Central Station in mid January, so we are lucky to all these amazing players back in the city in the near future.
They both first played in the world juniors and Sarah-Jane won but since then they have played and Nour is 4-1 up in the head to heads, but every one of these 4 matches went to five games. So it was going to be interesting to see if they would have another epic five setter match tonight.
This match was going to be particularly interesting as both players, whilst very much on-form, play with quite different styles. Sarah-Jane is six foot tall and plays a precise and attacking game with a wonderful change of pace, stepping forward on the court and has more traditional tactics of cutting the ball off around the T. Nour varies the pace and goes short whenever possible with colorful creative shots whenever she feels there is a apace open on the court. Nour dives for balls and she tries to twist and turn her opponent and take away their rhythm. Who was going to manage to force their game plan over the other? We'd soon find out!!!!
In the first game Nour hit her first ball on the return of serve into the nick, so we can assume that she wasn’t feeling any nerves going into the final! Even though Nour won that first point it was actually Sarah-Jane that settled into her game plan the quickest, keeping the T and hitting some great deep and tight lengths to give her 5-2 lead. The rallies were fantastic quality with players playing smart but creative squash which was so much fun to watch. Nour started to find her rhythm and slowly but surely you could feel her start to control the first game. With an array of winners and a couple of errors from Sarah-Jane Nour went through to take the first game 11-8.
The second game started in the same fashion as the first with Sarah-Jane taking a 5-2 lead still with equally fantastic rallies and efforts from both players. In this match in particular it was being played with a wonderful spirit and even though they clearly both wanted to leave as the Weymuller Champion, they were very much enjoying the fact they had fought their way to the final. Maybe it was because they had reached the final and already done so well, but each rally was contested as hard as possible, but both players managed to have a smile on their faces in between rallies when something funny happened or one of the players made a cheeky remark.
As in the first game Nour pushed back, and with a cross court drive straight into the nick and a perfect backhand drop, Nour once again found her previous rhythm. Sarah-Jane lost a little of her previous length and the game evened up at 6-6. The game continued on with such closely contested rallies and neither player could afford to give the other even an inch. The game evened up at 9-9 and with a perfect length it was Nour that got the first game ball. You could see that Sarah-Jane did not want to be 2-0 down and risky but perfect cross court nick evened the game once again to 10-10. In the next two rallies Sarah-Jane really upped her game producing a perfect crosscourt so wide that Nour threw her racket to try and retrieve it, and a perfect held trickle boast to take the games to 1-1, winning the second game 12-10.
In the third game it was Nour’s turn to get a 5-2 lead. A determined Sarah-Jane gave a big to push to not let Nour’s lead get away from her and she some plugged back to 6-6. This was the last point that Sarah-Jane won in the 3rd game. While Sarah-Jane was still producing some fantastic squash and putting in 100% effort, Nour was making very few errors and making it incredibly hard for Sarah-Jane to create any openings for herself. A series of wonderful shots from Nour and a forehand volley straight into the nick took her to the 2-1 lead she wanted winning the 3rd game 11-6.
Even though Sarah-Jane lost the third game she came out strong in the 4th taking a 5-3 lead. We were left wondering if Sarah-Jane could take this to a 5th five setter in a row! Each time Sarah-Jane worked hard for a small 2 point advantage, Nour seemed to very quickly whip 2 points back again. The game evened up at 7-7 and with a volley boast error from Sarah-Jane and a lucky scrap off an incredibly tight length, Nour seemly had the gods on her side today. Nour must have felt it was her time as she finished the last 2 points of the match with very impressive volley nicks winning the final game 11-8.
Nour El Tayeb managed to win her first Carol Weymuller Open title beating Sarah-Jane Perry 11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8 in 50 minutes.
Watching both players display world class, hard fought squash with such tremendous sportsmanship and respect for each other was really heartwarming and inspiring. We were all very privileged to witness this match this evening and it definitely makes us already feel excited to have them all back for the 2019 Carol Weymuller Open!!
After the final I interviewed the very happy Nour. She said: "At the beginning of this season I think I put too much pressure on myself to do better than last year. Being in the top 4 area I was too desperate. When I was interviewed at another tournament they said that I had created a rivalry between me, Nour and Raneem and this put on more pressure. I should have enjoyed it more being in the mix. “Then I lost early last week too so I just thought I should enjoy, relax and give it the best I could and this result shouldn’t matter. SJ is very positive and whether she wins or loses she takes more from the match than if she puts pressure on herself. “Over the last 2 years there have been a lot of changes in my life, being married to Ali who helps me a lot, together with Haitham Effat and Hossam Nasser, who has added a lot of attacking to my game and Ali Ismail my fitness coach , he has made me fit enough to back up my matches. Thanks to them all.”
When I spoke to Sarah-Jane after the final she seemed pretty happy and she said: "I thought that was the best I played all week. Unfortunately she just made a few less errors. It was a really high quality match. It’s not often you are going to play that well and lose. Credit to Nour. I get round further each time I come so I’m definitely playing here next year!! It’s been a great week. It’s time to go home after literally a month in the US! Next stop Hong Kong.”
2018 Champion : Nour El Tayeb
Final Photos
by Kelley bHolmgren
Awards
Thanks !!!
I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to some key people who have put a lot of time, effort and generosity into making this tournament what it is.
Firstly our corporate sponsors Corcoran, who generously support us year after year (over 16 years actually) and help so much towards the prize fund and to Leslie Marshall for helping us with this. It’s very much appreciated.
To Lassen and Hennigs who very generously provided a wonderful spread of breakfast food for our players each morning.
To Dan Horan and Five Acres farms for your sponsorship and donating delicious healthy organic food and drinks our PSA players.
Nadja and Euphebe for their really delicious, healthy snacks during the week at the matches.
To Enrico Palazio and Key Food for providing our tournament with A LOT sports drinks throughout the event.
To Peter Ruggie of Principe Corcini who sponsored the wine for our fantastic Weymuller@Dinner on Saturday. We had their delicious wine to accompany our fantastic food. Very fun to have such lovely wine with Tuscun food theme!
To all our amazing members that bought tickets for the quarters, semis and finals which contributed to the prize fund. We wouldn’t have a tournament if we didn’t have this incredible support. We had such a great entry yet again and the matches were so strong and of such high caliber all the way through from the round 1 to the final.
To all the PSA players themselves for choosing to come and play our event and for playing such beautiful squash and inspiring all of us, especially our juniors and taking the time to get on court with them at the Play a Pro. You are not only amazing athletes, but also such gracious, friendly and inspiring women and wonderful role models to us all, and our sport in general. Thanks so much.
To Mike Riley our main professional referee and also Jamshed Gul Khan for all their hard work this week refereeing all the matches. Mike has many years of professional refereeing experience. Being a referee is often a thankless task and you can NEVER make everyone happy, but we do really appreciate the efforts and dedication made by Mike and Jamshed to give up their time in the pursuit make the game of squash as professional as possible.
To all our members who opened up their homes to house the PSA players. Thanks so much for opening up your homes. The PSA players just love the wonderful and warm hospitality that they are all given.
To Clare Bradshaw who excellently arranged the housing of the PSA players. All her hard work and effort is so very much appreciated. She did a wonderful job.
To Jennifer Nolen who is the complete reason why we have an amazing Weymuller poster for the very first time! Thanks so much Jennifer for making it happen in every way. Everyone has loved and enjoyed the poster and our juniors especially have got the PSA player to autographs them as a keep sake.
To Paulina Rojek, who put a ton of hard work and time into the media part of the Weymuller with tweeting, facebook and instagram and doing media things and more for the event.
To Kelley Holmgren: This year our tournament photographer was the wonderful Kelley Holmgren, Jean Ervasti, who usually takes our photos had her son’s wedding this weekend. We obviously missed having Jean be part of our Weymuller tournament, but Kelley takes equally amazing photos and we appreciate her taking the time to not only take photos at the tournament but also the time she has spent this week at the early hours of the morning down loading them all so we can get them to different media ports around the world AND THEN still coming into work as usual each day!!!
To the other pros that have helped me each night with the music etc. Laurent, Fabian and Sam….they are the best team ever.
To Nate Chura, tennis pro and reporter, who did some wonderful YouTube interviews during the Weymuller with the PSA players.
To Cristian, Flor, Dani, Jayson, Lewis, the 2 Franks, Zhanna, Christy, Keisha, Shakespeare and many, many more. Thanks to ALL our Heights Casino staff. We have an amazing team of dedicated people here at The Heights Casino, who all pull together and make every event we run here a success. Thanks so much, it’s always a real pleasure to work alongside them all.
To all the squash websites that covered our tournament results, writes up, interviews and photos. It’s much appreciated.
To Mary Lou Bunn and Eliza Alsop, our co-chairs of the Weymuller for the third year running. They have done a wonderful job, and 3rd year of our new Weymuller@Dinner which was held again on Saturday night after the quarter finals and it was a roaring success yet again. Thanks so much to them both for their tireless hard work, care and creativity leading up to and during the Weymuller. I look forward to working with them again next year.
Thanks again and we hope you all enjoyed the 2018 Carol Weymuller Open as much as we did and we look forward to running it again next year.
Congratulations again to Nour El Tayeb and good luck to all the PSA players for their next tournaments and beyond!
Linda
LIVE STREAMING
Final : [1] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) 3-1 [2] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8 (50m)
Semi-Finals
Semi finals day at the 2018 Carol Weymuller Open. Everyone was excited to see some more action packed squash and that's certainly what they got and more!! There were two Egyptian and two English players in the semi finals. Two of the strongest squash nations in the world.
Linda Elriiani reports, photos by Kelley Holmgren
The first semi final of today was between world #3 and #1 seed Nour El Tayeb from Egypt, and world #9 and 2014 Carol Weymuller Champion, Alison Waters from England.
Alison is the only player in the draw this year to have previously won this tournament and she was also a finalist in 2009 and 2016. Nour has reached the quarterfinals four times before in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016, so I’m very sure she would love to make it through today to make it to her first Weymuller final.
In the head to heads Nour is up 3-2 over Alison, but they have had some great five setter matches in the past so maybe we were going to see another epic one here today!
In the first Nour started off strong and focused and she looked to be following her game plan really well. Alison played at a slower pace than she usually does and it gave Nour time to place the ball and slot in her nicks which is she does best! Nour looked very relaxed and confident and didn’t seem to be missing any opportunities given to her and also took some shots in that Alison wasn’t expecting. Nour went through to win the first game surprisingly easily 11-3.
Alison also started the second game a little too passively and giving Nour too much to use her amazing skills. There were times in the second when Alison worked an opening and would normally slot the ball away and she played it deep again. Maybe she lost a little bit of confidence from making some errors in the first game and wanted to play herself into the rallies. Alison just seemed a little bit off compared to yesterday where she was do incredibly sharp and attacking. Alison plugged away and in the middle of the game she started look more comfortable and could apply some pressure, which results in getting a couple of mistakes from Nour for the first time in the match. Nour regrouped and managed to win the second game 11-7.
The third started in a similar tone but around 8-5 to Nour, Alison started to take the ball earlier and apply some pace. The points went back and forth and Nour started to look a little nervous for the first time in this match. In previous matches when things were not going so well on the court Nour would notice what was happening off the court, like someone moving in the crowd etc. It was a telltale sign that her confidence was not quite as high as it had been in the first 2 games. Nour certainly put a lot of effort into trying to finish the match off in three, as in one particular rally she dived and also did the splits and still managed to win the point!! Alison evened things up to 8-8 and stuck with her game plan. With an array of great shots, including a perfect forehand lob and a wonderfully held trickle boast, Alison was back in the match winning the third 11-8.
The time in between games really helped Nour the most as when she came back on court she was re-focused and ready to go. Before we knew it Nour has an 8-1 lead. Not the start that you want when you have just won the previous game and want to continue the momentum. Alison gave a big push and still applied some great pressure here and there and hits some great drives, but Nour was on today and she went through to take her place in the Carol Weymuller Open for the first time ever. She won 11-3, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6 in 47 minutes.
A smiling Nour said: “This morning I was studying by watching lots of Alison’s previous matches so I knew how to play her. I think I did play well for the most part. She kept changing her game plan and towards the end of the 3rd, she relaxed and cut down the errors. I think in the fourth, I wanted to start well and be as pumped as possible and I feel that every day here I have played better than the day before. I’m excited to be in the final. I look at it as just another match in a tournament and hopefully I’ll play just that little bit better again!”
I went and found Alison after the match and asked how she was feeling she said: “I’m disappointed really, I thought I played some good squash in there, but my shots weren’t really going in until the second game. Nour played well and didn’t really give me any cheap errors. You feel like you have won the point, but she dives and you have to win it again! Overall there are some positives to take away. I felt like I played well in patches. You can’t play a first game like that and get away with it with Nour. Hong Kong is my next tournament so I have 3 weeks until then. I’m looking forward to it.”
The second semi final match featured world #8 and recent Netsuite Champion, Sarah-Jane Perry from England and world #15 Salma Hany from Egypt. Salma is the youngest player in the semi-finals today, but this week she has definitely shown that she has a wealth of experience and lots of maturity in her game, even though she is only 22 years old. Sarah-Jane has been continuing her fantastic and consistent form winning the Netsuite Open in San Fran earlier this month beating the world #2 to retain her title from last year.
Sarah-Jane is ahead 2-1 in the head to heads with Sarah-Jane beating Salma in the netsuite earlier this month, but I’m sure that feisty Salma will not let that stop her from making every effort to reach her first ever Weymuller final. Salma made the semi-final of the Weymuller in 2017 and Sarah-Jane made the semi-final is 2016, so it’ll be exciting to see which player prevails today. Both players had long, taxing five setters yesterday, fighting back from being 2-0 down, so it’ll also be interesting to see how they hold up physically once the match really settles in. We will have to wait and see!
The first game of the second match was the longest game of the whole tournament at 23 minutes long! There were some incredible rallies with wonderful varied pace and brilliant use of the four corners. Both players were vying for the T and trying to control the middle. Sarah-Jane has such long strides and lunges and sometimes you think that she can’t get a ball back but somehow she reaches out and back comes the ball again! Salma is wonderfully swift and fantastically gutsy so you know you have to do so much to win each point. The points continued to go back and forth and both players were putting so much effort into trying to get this first game under their belt. Salma was the first to get game ball at 11-10 but couldn’t capitalize on it. The second game ball was Sarah-Jane’s at 12-11 but no such luck! This continued on and both players had their chances to cease the game but couldn’t win that final point. Finally it got to 15-15 and Salma did a perfect forehand boast winner and a great backhand drop that Sarah-Jane just got her racket to but clipped the tin giving Salma the first game 17-15. The first game as great in so many ways….quality squash, tremendous movement, incredible variation in pace, and copious amounts of heart!
Salma started the second game well going 4-1 up quite quickly and looking in control. But Sarah-Jane is tough and didn’t want to lose this match. She dug in and gradually started to contain Salma’s array of winners. The more Sarah-Jane stayed solid and kept the ball in the corners the more errors would appear from Salma and then her confidence seemed to diminish somewhat. Sarah-Jane evened up the points at 8-8 and then with a tin off the return of serve from Salma and cross court onto Sarah-Jane’s racket she went through to the win the second game 11-8.
In the third game it was the reverse of the second with Sarah-Jane getting a nice 4-1 lead, but this time Salma dug in and managed to control the middle and worked at taking the ball early to taking vital time away from Sarah-Jane. Salma evened up the game at 8-8 (just like Sarah-Jane did in the second). Salma didn’t get another point after that as Sarah-Jane surged forward and with the final winning forehand drop shot, a fist pump and a shout, Sarah-Jane took the second 11-8.
The beginning of the fourth it was a replica of the third, with Sarah-Jane taking the 4-1 lead and a gritty Salma refusing to lay down. Salma evened up the score at 4-4 and she squeezed to 8 first. Sarah-Jane plugged away and focused to make sure she didn’t deviate from her game plan and the game eventually evened up at 8-8. Considering how exciting and fierce the match was, with plenty of let and strokes thrown in too, Sarah-Jane stayed incredibly calm and collected. This really helped Sarah-Jane to keep her focus, which is obviously vital in an incredibly tight match like this. It was two the strokes against Salma at the very end that cost her the match and Sarah-Jane reached a new mile stone in reaching her first Carol Weymuller final. Sarah-Jane won 15-17, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 in 58 minutes.
A very happy Sarah-Jane after the match said "I’m pleased that I got through in the end as her shots were so good and I never felt settled. I knew she had a hard match yesterday so I tried to make it hard. I’m definitely more confident in my fitness than I used to be. Every time I play Nour it’s been 3-2! Hopefully this one will be my one!!”
A disappointed looking Salma said: “I think we were both nervous in the first game and we were both desperate to win the first game and then I managed to take it. In the second I was 8-5 and I lost a little bit of focus. I’m just really disappointed. I think the match has a lot of stopping and the ref was bad for both of us! All credit to her, she played well and fought to the end. I am just a little disappointed as I wanted to make one better than last year. Overall it was a great week here and I’ll keep coming back until I win it!”
Congratulations to both winners who played absolutely amazing squash and we very much look forward to the final tomorrow between Nour El Tayeb and Sarah-Jane Perry at 7.30pm.
Semi-Finals: [1] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) 3-1 [3] Alison Waters (Eng) 11/3, 11/7, 8/11, 11/6
[2] Sarah-Jane Perry (En) 3-1 [7] Salma Hany (Egy) 15/17, 11/8, 11/8, 11/9
Everyone is so excited to see who will be the 2018 Carol Weymuller Champion. Both players will be playing their first final here at the Heights Casino and they will both be hungry to leave with the Champions trophy. I can't wait to find out!!!
Linda Elriani
Sarah-Jane Perry Interview
after her semi-final win over Salma Hany
Semi-Final Photos
by Kelley Holmgren
DRAW & RESULTS
Quarter-Finals
Tonight was quarter finals night of the 2018 Carol Weymuller Open. The quarter finals night is always my favorite night at tournaments because it's four extremely high quality matches all in one afternoon. The quality of the squash this week has been truly amazing and we are all left amazed and inspired after each match we watch!
Linda Elriani reports, photos by Kelley Holmgren
Today's quarter finals had USA, Egypt, England, Wales and India being represented. These are all great squash nations, especially Egypt and we are very lucky to have all these wonderful players travel from around the globe to play in our event.
First up on the championship court was #1 seed from Egypt Nour El Tayeb and her opponent, world # 14 from India, Joshna Chinappa. The head to head is 2-1 in Nour’s favor so we will see if Joshna can even things up tonight!
They both have very different styles with Joshna playing attacking, fast paced squash and Nour varying the pace and mixing up the angles more. In the first game Nour managed to control the pace of the first game well. She looked more relaxed than her first match with Hania. Joshna seemed a little flat footed at times, but with Nour’s great delay on the ball and change of direction, this would have a lot to do this that. Nour took the first game 11-4.
The second game was a flip flop of the first! If you give Joshna as short length she’ll put it away every time. All the time Nour kept Joshna in the corners she would eliminate this part of Joshna’s game. Nour didn’t manage to do this and from 3-3 Joshna suddenly upped the pace and got Nour deeper in the court and Nour made some forced and unforced errors. She also started to be a little distracted on things outside the court, like in her match with Hania. Joshna stormed through to take the 2nd 11-4.
Yet again the match flip flopped, but this time it stayed in Nour’s favor for the rest of the match. Nour found her length and was using some lovely hold on the ball and started to look very confident and sure of herself. Joshna tried to apply her previous pace and assertiveness, but Nour had found her rhythm and there was nothing Joshna could do to stop her. Nour won the third game 11-3 and it was only at 9-1 in the fourth game that suddenly Nour looked a tired after one particularly long rally, but she still went through to win the fourth 11-2 and take the match 3-1 (11-4, 4-11, 11-3, 11-2).
After Nour’s match when I asked how she felt and she said: "I think my match against Hania gave me a lot of confidence. I played against Joshna a lot in the days before the tournament in practice so I think she started to get hold of how I play. I don’t enjoy it when people read me and she did sometimes and she goes for her great shots. I think I was trying to be prepared for all her shots. I’m excited for the semis.”
Second match on court was the between 2014 Weymuller champion, Alison Waters from England and world # 16 Olivia Blatchford from USA, whose name graces our board on the wall for the Baird E Haney award that she won back when she was a junior at the Casino. They have played each other 5 times so far on tour and Alison has won every time, but last time they played back in February this year in Cleveland Olivia pushed Alison to a great five game match, so we’ll see what tonight brings!
The match started with some great fast paced, long rallies and both players were moving fluidly and seemingly effortlessly. Ali took a lead of 7-4 but Olivia suddenly made a huge push to get in front of Alison and she managed to get her length much deeper and incredibly tight to the walls. With a series of fantastic, wall clinging drives, Olivia through to win the first game 11-8.
In the second Alison looked like she refocused and was determined to get Olivia deeper and take full advantage of any openings that Olivia put up for her. Olivia lost some of her previous tight length and even thought there were still some wonderful rallies Alison dug in and refused to lose the 2nd after the first slipped away. Alison won the second game 11-6.
Much like the first match of the afternoon, Alison then continued her subtle control of the match. Too many unforced errors started to creep in from Olivia and Alison started to just get better and better and more comfortable out there. Alison won the third 11-5 and the fourth 11-6. Alison earned her spot in the semi finals winning 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6.
Alison said after her match: "I was disappointed to lose that 1st game after being 7-4 up. I think that I sat back a bit and got passive and she took the game to me at the end of the 1st. I started to mix it up more and stretch her and she made some errors. Really pleased to be into the semi’s against Nour tomorrow. We played last time in El Gouna and she won so I’m looking forward to getting stuck in tomorrow!!’.
The third match of the evening was between Tesni Evans world #12 from Wales and Salma Hany the world #15 from Egypt. Tesni made the semi finals of the US Open last week and Salma always brings her A game to this tournament so my feeling was that we have a fantastic match on our hands!!
This match was the longest match of the night lasting 65 minutes and what a thriller it was!! The match overall was so closely contested with both players moving each other around the court so well. Both players have an incredible array of winners, with holds and flicks and much more!!Tesni had to make sure her length was deep enough, especially on Salma’s backhand, otherwise Salma would chop it in. If Alison got the ball that bit deeper some mistakes would come. Tesni was the first to get to game ball at 10-7, but Salma was not backing down and she climbed her way back to 10-10. Tesni focus hard and managed to pull away and she finished the game with a perfect drop that faded away into the forehand front corner. Tesni won the first 12-10.
In the second game Tesni keep her control throughout and with her great and controlled play she managed give herself a lot of time in the front and her incredible hold can hold her opponent in their tracks. This is such a useful tool to have when playing a player like Salma who get so much back. Tesni went through to win the second 11-6.
Tesni took the lead in the third of 5-3 and it was looking like she was probably going to win in 3 games. But never underestimate Salma Hany! Salma played some fantastic winners and she cut out the previous errors and got her length tighter and deeper and before we knew it she’d won the 3rd game 11-8.
Both players came out in the fourth to win it but Tesni couldn’t quite contain Salma. Salma was getting stronger and stronger and getting on a roll and even with 3 no let calls against her she still clinched the fourth game 11-7.
Now it was the fifth game and Salma continued on in the same vein and took a 5-1 lead. Just as we thought that Tesni was down and out, she gave a huge push and plugged her way back, eventually getting even at 7-7. Now it was anyone’s! The quality of the squash was trying amazing and both players were truly giving it their all. They next leveled again at 9-9 and we were all on the edge of our seats with the match standing at 2-2, 9-9!!!
A skillful forehand volley drop from Salma took her to her first match ball. The both decided to play a more patient rally due to the importance of this particular rally, but it was Salma’s backhand drive that clung so tight to the wall that Tesni couldn’t scrap it off. Salma and Tesni both walked around the court before shaking hands, one in shock and excitement to have won, and the other with disappointment to have lost out by such a close margin, especially after being 2-0 up.
It just shows that a match is never over until that last point in won, and that staying positive and fighting until the end are absolutely vital!! Salma won 3-2…..10-12, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.
A red faced and happy Salma said after her match: "I can’t believe it, the first 2 games I thought I was playing well but I was too passive. I didn’t have the belief in me. After the 2nd game I looked at my phone and there was text from my mum saying ‘You can still do it!”. I kept fighting and every time I felt tired or though I couldn’t do it I visualized her saying to this to me and I that extra push! “I am very lucky to have a great support with me. Obviously my team mates and my coach from when I was 5 years old, Ashraf Adel and my friend as well. I coach back in Egypt Ahmed Effat and my family and friends who are back home. I kept fighting knowing they were watching me on the streaming from the other side of the world. I did it for them. “I just want to thank Tesni for a great match. I always enjoy playing her, she’s a great player and we always tend to have tough battles together.”
Last up on the championship court, but certainly not least was England's world #8 Sarah-Jane Perry and USA’s Amanda Sobhy who is currently world #18. It’s Amanda’s father’s birthday today so I’m sure she would love to win her him today. We’ll see if Sarah-Jane can use her tall stature and great pace control to take the T away from Amanda where she can be so dangerous.
After the third match of the evening was so momentous, it seemed that it was unlikely that the next match could have that same amount of excitement and competition, but it very almost did!!
In the same vein as the previous match one opponent went 2-0 up and then their opponent dug deep and fought their way back into the match. Amanda was just taking the ball so early and cutting off all balls at every opportunity and Sarah-Jane couldn’t find the control that she was hunting for. Amanda won the first 11-8.
The second was a real tussle and both players were playing some wonderful clean squash, but it was Amanda that got a lead at 6-3 and then 8-5. Sarah-Jane found a better length and edged her way back and soon it was 9-9. A perfect volley boast winner from Sarah-Jane gave her the first game ball, but Amanda was gutsy enough to go for a winner off the return of serve and it paid off! A ‘no let’ in Amanda’s favor and a perfect backhand volley drop gave Amanda the second game 12-10.
It may have been that Amanda started to get a little tired in the 3rd and 4th games but she definitely made many more errors and was far less patient that she had been in the first and second games. It’s hard to, but if you can wrong foot Amanda and make her start to move one way and then go the other, she has a little clink in her amour, probably due to her Achilles injury and still not being fully strong in one leg.
Sarah-Jane managed to start doing more of this and her drives were deeper and tighter, coupled with some awesome short shots. As the match went on Sarah-Jane became more composed and accurate and Amanda’s previously perfect form started to crumble. Sarah-Jane won the 4th 11-5 and went through the fifth in the same manner taking the final game 11-4. Sarah-Jane won 8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4.
A tired Sarah-Jane said afterwards: "At first it was going alright and then she started picking me off. I was being quite predictable and she is too good to do that. I gave myself a bit more of license to play and be creative. 1-0 down and 9-5 down isn’t the best way to start a match, but I’ve had some good comebacks in the last year and I’m more confident in my fitness. I started to stretch her and she started to make errors. So I dug in and told myself to be solid……and it worked!! For the semi final tomorrow, Salma was playing SO well today so bring it on!!!!!”
[1] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) 3-1 [8] Joshna Chinappa (Ind) 11-4, 4-11, 11-3, 11-2 (31m) [3] Alison Waters (Eng) 3-1 [6] Olivia Blatchford (Usa) 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (40m) [7] Salma Hany (Egy) 3-2 [4] Tesni Evans 10-12, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 (65m) [2] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 3-2 Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 (51m)
Here ends yet another amazing evening of squash. We really have been treated to some wonderful matches and the players are such incredible athletes. We can't wait for the semi finals tomorrow at 2.30pm and 3.15pm to see who will make it through to the Weymuller Open final on Monday night.
After the completion of the quarterfinals we had our new Weymuller@Dinner event, which a wonderful success with delicious food and great company. It was a very special and fun way to celebrate the Weymuller week. Thanks to all our fantastic members that supported it. Linda Elriani
Nour El Tayeb interview
After her quarter-final win over Joshna Chinappa
Play a Pro
Today we had our junior 'Salming Play a Pro' which ran from 12.00pm-1.00pm before the quarterfinals.
It's our juniors chance to get on court with some of the best women's squash players in the world. That doesn't happen every day!
A huge thank you goes to Haley Mendez, Milou van der Heijden, Nele Gilis, Amanda Landers-Murphy, Julianne Courtice and Lucy Beecroft for taking the time to play with them.
They all gave up part of their afternoon to play with our juniors and the kids all had such an amazing time. The PSA women are so great at giving back and spreading the joy and love of squash to others.
All our Casino juniors that attended received some cool colorful wristbands. Thanks so much to Salming for your Play a Pro sponsorship.
Quarter-Final Photos (I)
by Kelley Holmgren
Quarter-Final Photos (II)
by Kelley Holmgren
Day Three: Round Two (B)
Sobhy joins seven seeds in the Quarters
Tonight was the second half of the second round of the 2018 Carol Weymuller Main draw. The matches last night were amazing so everyone was very excited to see what tonight's matches would bring! Linda Elriani reports, photos by Kelley Holmgren
First on the Championship court was world # 12 from Wales, Tesni Evans and Egyptian Zeina Mickawy who is world #35. Tesni and Zeina have only played once before this two years ago, with Tesni winning in an incredibly close 3-2 match, so we’ll see what tonight’s match will bring. Tesni has been on form recently reaching the semi final of the US Open last week, so we are excited to see her in action.
Tesni started the match perfectly. She got in front of her opponent, she controlled the pace well and before we knew it she was 8-1 up! Tesni has a great weight on her shots and makes them just that little bit more difficult to retrieve. Zeina wasn’t going to lose the first game without a fight and she started take the ball earlier, dig deep and play some great short shots. Zeina managed to find some rhythm and earned back some points, but eventually Tesni took the first 11-8.
The second game was basically a replica of the first game. Tesni got an 8-2 lead playing some tremendous and well thought out squash and then Zeina pushed hard and grinded back to 8 points again. Both players have such great hands and varied the pace so beautifully. Just as Tesni was probably starting to feel a little worried with Zeina’s comeback, Zeina made an error and totally gave Tesni the emphasis back, which she took full advantage of. Tesni went through to the win the second game in the same score as the first 11-8.
In the third game it was Zeina’s turn to take a great 7-2 lead and control the T. Tesni started to play too many cross courts and Zeina gobbled them up. Zeina also hit two return of serves straight into the nick!! Zeina kept her composure and took the third 11-6.
The fourth game was the closest of them all with the points going back and forth and there was some wonderful creative shots and movement from both players. Tesni has a great hold that makes her opponent pause before moving to the next shot and it take it takes its toll on your opponent later in the match if you have the ability to do that. The score was even until 7-7 and then a couple of great shots from Tesni and errors from Zeina, and Tesni came through to earn her spot in the quarter finals 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8.
A relieved Tesni said after the match: "I’m really happy to come through that match and win. I felt a little bit flat so I was constantly trying to fire myself up. Too many loose balls and to be fair she’s far too good to do that to including my serves. All credit to her for playing really well and pushing me. I know I have to play a lot better if I’m to go any further in this tournament. For my quarter final match, whoever I play I’m sure will be tough. Julianne has been playing really well and Salma is always tough and we’ve have some good matches. I’m looking forward to it!”
Second match on the championship court was between Salma Hany from Egypt who is world #15 and her opponent Julianne Courtice who is English and is ranked #46 in the world. They have never played before so it will be a fun match to see each player figure out their opponent’s style and tactics.
Salma started the match confident and hungry. She kept the T and hit an array of winners that Julianne just couldn’t quite handle. Salma won the first decisively 11-4.
In the second, Julianne seemed to come out with a different approach and she was playing with much more purpose and not reacting to Salma’s game. Julianne took a 5-2 lead hitting great length and containing Salma’s attacking game. Salma always fights hard and she pulled herself back to an even playing field at 6-6. Julianne played some very impressive rallies with Salma and really made Salma work hard for each point, but Salma was deadly at taking the ball in short and she went through to the win the second 11-7.
The third game was close with the points going back and forth and even until 6-6. Similar to the third game it was at this time that Salma pushed hard and made it so hard for Julianne to get into a rhythm and take control, even though Julianne was playing some fantastic squash. Salma squeezed through the third game with a ‘no let call’ to take the match in three…. 11-4, 11-7, 11-9 in 29 minutes.
Salma said after her match: “I feel good. I’m really happy with my performance today. The last tournament didn’t go as I wanted so I came to this feeling a little disappointed with the last two. I just thought I won’t let this tournament go, it always brings out the best in me. I knew I would find my game as I always enjoy playing in this court in Brooklyn Heights. So I took the advantage that I would play my game and go for every shot. I’m glad I went through today and looking forward to play Tes tomorrow”.
The third match on court starred #2 seed from England Sarah-Jane Perry and Belgium’s Nele Gilis who is world #33. Sarah-Jane recently won the Netsuite Open in San Fran so she has been playing great squash and feeling good about her game. Sarah-Jane is up 1-0 in the head to head, but Nele is looking very fit so maybe she can sneak a win this time.
There were two very different players in style and stature on the court for this match. Nele is super nimble and has incredible agility, and Sarah-Jane has wonderful strength and reach and can control the pace of the match more easily than most. It was going to be interesting to see who could get their game plan over the other.
In the first there were some unbelievable rallies where both players covered the court and used the corners well. Nele got a good start taking a 4-1 and then 7-3 lead. Nele managed to twist and turn Sarah-Jane really well and earn some good points. But as always, Sarah-Jane will not go down without a fight and she climbed her way back to win the first 11-8.
In the second, it was Nele that again took an early control of the game and was 4-1 before Sarah-Jane started controlling the T better. Sarah-Jane has such a great reach that even under some immense pressure she can stick up a lob and reset the rally and end up winning the point! Sarah-Jane managed to find a better length and pulled away to win the second game 11-7.
In the third game it was Sarah-Jane that got the 4-1 lead and even though Nele gave 100% effort and played some great squash, Sarah-Jane looked like she finally found her rhythm and played some great volley boasts to out maneuver Nele. Sarah-Jane went through to win the match 11-8, 11-7, 11-5.
When I asked Sarah-Jane after the match how she felt she said: "I feel like I’ve been here for ages! It’s a week since the US Open and this tournament started two days ago! It took me a while to get into the pace. She started really well, actually, she started well in every game and I managed to keep it solid and pull away a bit. Nele has had some really good results recently so I wasn’t taking her lightly. She’s definitely improved since last time we played. I haven’t played either of my potential opponents for a while, but I like it here so I’m looking forward to it”.
The final match of the evening on the championship court was between Victoria Lust, who is world #13 from England, and USA’s Amanda Sobhy who is currently climbing back up the rankings after her Achilles injury 18 months ago. Amanda is ahead 5-0 in the head to head, so I’m sure that Vicky is looking forward to the opportunity to put a score on the board. This was the longest, most competitive and entertaining match of the evening.
The match started well for left hander Amanda who took a 5-1 lead while Vicky adjusted to the fast pace that Amanda was playing at. Vicky managed knuckle down, do some amazing retrieving and even up the score to 8-8. The points went back and forth evenly and it was a cross court that was not wide enough that gave Amanda an opportunity to do a perfect backhand volley kill to take the first game 11-8.
Amanda started the second well too and soon had a 5-2 lead over Vicky. She was hunting for the ball and taking valuable time away from Vicky. Vicky covered the court amazingly and really made Amanda earn every point that she won. The amazingly effort from Vicky paid off as she soon ground her way to 11-11 putting Amanda under copious amounts of pressure. A silly shot choice and error from Vicky and then a ‘no let’ gave Amanda the third game.
Low and behold, Amanda got to take a lead in the third game as well leading by 4-1 before Vicky really
Really found her previous length again and control of the T. Vicky fought so hard and her huge effort s paid off and at 9-9 Amanda got two ‘no lets’ from the referee and she won a much deserved game to bring the match to 2-1.
The crowd was very excited and appreciative of the amazing squash that Vicky and Amanda were displaying and one fan of ‘Lusty’ (Victoria Lust) was particularly loud and supportive.
In the fourth game both players left it all on the court, taking the ball early and really giving their absolute best effort to come out on top. Both Vicky and Amanda had their fair share of great winners, but it was Amanda in particular who was lethal around the middle and cut off the balls whenever possible. Vicky had to be so careful not put to put the ball loose in order to set Amanda up. No one really got a good lead in this game and soon we were at 9-9 again. Amanda got her first match ball at 10-9 but Vicky was not prepared to lose! An error from Amanda gave Vicky a chance to still take this match to five. There were incredible and quick exchanges of shots and it was Amanda that came out on top with her fast arm and very fast reactions. Eventually Amanda got her second chance at match ball and there was a referee decision that Amanda felt was a stroke to her, but she got a let, but in the next rally Amanda did eventually win on a stoke. Vicky was very unhappy to lose on a stroke after such an incredibly hard fought match but Amanda came though 11-8, 13-11, 9-11, 12-10 to play Sarah-Jane tomorrow win the quarterfinals.
The definitely left the court feeling inspired and excited to get back for the quarterfinals tomorrow.
A red faced Amanda said after her match: "I’m a little gassed!! I think I got my steps in today!!! We just played last week and she doesn’t give you anything. I knew what I was in for but it was still really tough. I was annoyed that I lost the 3rd game as I really wanted to close it in the three, but I am really happy to have won the 4th. The crowd was awesome, it was a lot of fun. Really vocal, which I LOVE! For the quarterfinal, I need to recover, as I’m going to run a lot again tomorrow! SJ and I haven’t played since February so it should be good. We both have fair battles.”
It was another fantastic night of squash and we all look forward to the quarterfinals starting at 2.00pm tomorrow afternoon.
2.00pm Nour El Tayeb v Joshna Chinappa 2.45pm Alison Waters v Olivia Blatchford 3.30pm Tesni Evans v Salma Hany 4.15pm Sarah-Jane Perry v Amanda Sobhy
Before the quarter finals tomorrow from 12pm-1pm we will have our 'Salming Junior Play A Pro' where some of the PSA players kindly come and hit with our Casino juniors and get their free Salming wristbands. It’s always so fun and inspiring for our juniors to actually get on court and hit with the pros and get to know them better.
After the completion of the quarter finals we will have a Weymuller@Dinner with a delicious sit down meal and drinks to celebrate this inspiring Weymuller week of squash.
Linda Elriani