|
|
Dread Sports Series #2 2011
13-16 Oct, Sports Club/LA,
Washington DC, USA, $12k
Sponsors: Squash on Fire, Gould Property Company, The SportsClub/LA
and I.C.E. Physical Therapy |
|
|
|
16-Oct, Final:
Dipika Pallikal bt Sarah-Jane Perry 11/9, 11/3, 11/7 (33m)
Pallikal Wins WISPA Dread Squash Series 2
David Keating reports
 Dipika
Pallikal faced her toughest tournament match in the final today, but
won in three games, completing a shut out of her opponents.
Sarah-Jane Perry, the unseeded surprise finalist, proved in her loss
that reaching the final was no fluke.
Perry dropped two of the first three points in the match, then went
on a tear, putting four winning shots out of reach of her speedy and
graceful opponent as she built a 7-3 lead. The pair traded points to
9-5, then Pallikal reeled off a six point streak and closed out the
game on a winning serve. It was the first time all weekend any of
her opponents reached nine points in any game.
Pallikal said “it took me a while to adapt to her style, and I found
I had to keep it tight and deep to avoid getting blocked” or
volleyed by her six-foot tall opponent.
The rising star from India continued her run in game two, showing an
impressive display of shot making with a variety of winning shots
that included boasts, a cross court nick, drops and dying length as
she built an 8-1 lead on the way to an easy 11-3 victory.
Perry said “I knew Dipika had great racquet skills, and if I hit
anything loose, she’d make it very difficult.”
Game three delighted the crowd, as both players played nearly error
free squash and displayed flair with their shots. The see-saw battle
saw at least six lets on the way to a 7-7 tie. Then Pallikal again
showed her brilliance on the court, winning three points before
Perry erred on match ball.
 After
the match, Pallikal expressed satisfaction with her performance in a
series of tournaments in the United States, saying it’s “been a good
week and I played well.” She takes a short break back home in India
before the World Open.
Perry took a high-tech approach to her match and asked her coach to
watch the online streaming of the match. She powered up her laptop
near the court and between games, Steve Townsend, her Kenilworth,
England based coach, sent advice via an online chat.
Next stop for Perry is the Santiago Open 2011, where she is again
unseeded, that starts Wednesday in Spain. She defeated the #2 seed
at this tournament, so she has a good shot at making another final.
 |
Streaming channel
 |
 Dread
Sports Series #2 2011
13-16 Oct, Washington DC, USA, $11k
Sponsors: Squash on
Fire, Gould Property Company, The SportsClub/LA and I.C.E. Physical
Therapy |
Round One
13 Oct |
Quarters
14 Oct |
Semis
15 Oct |
Final
16 Oct |
[1] Dipika Pallikal (Ind)
11/7, 11/5, 11/3 (23m)
[Q] Georgina Stoker (Eng) |
[1] Dipika Pallikal
11/4, 11/3, 11/6 (27m)
[5] Sarah Cardwell |
[1] Dipika Pallikal
11/3, 11/7, 11/5 (25m)
[Q] Larissa Stephenson |
[1] Dipika Pallikal
12.00
Sarah-Jane Perry |
[5] Sarah Cardwell (Aus)
11/7, 7/11, 12/12, 13/11 (45m)
Sabrina Sobhy (Usa) |
[4] Adel Nunan (Rsa)
11/8, 11/9, 11/7 (24m)
[Q] Larissa Stephenson (Nzl) |
[Q] Larissa Stephenson
11/5, 7/11, 11/5, 11/8 (27m)
[Q] Alix Younger |
[8] Genevieve Lessard (Can)
11/9, 11/8, 11/7 (25m)
[Q] Alix Younger (Can) |
[Q] Alex Clark (Sco)
11/7, 11/5, 8/11, 11/8 (36m)
[7] Tesni Evans (Wal) |
[7] Tesni Evans
10/12, 11/9, 11/9, 14/12 (61m)
Sarah-Jane Perry |
Sarah-Jane Perry
14/12, 11/9, 9/11, 5/11, 11/4 (53m)
[2] Latasha Khan |
Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng)
11/4, 8/11, 11/6, 17/15 (47m)
[3] Alexandra Norman (Can) |
Kristen Lange (Usa)
2/11, 8/11, 11/8, 12/10, 11/8 (41m)
[6] Celia Allamargot (Fra) |
Kristen Lange
11/5, 11/6, 11/3 (21m)
[2] Latasha Khan |
Niki Clement (Usa)
11/3, 11/3, 11/2 (15m)
[2] Latasha Khan (Usa) |
12-Oct, Qualifying:
Alex Clark (Sco) bt Kimberley
Palterman (Zim)
11/1, 11/1, 11/5 (18m)
Larissa Stephenson (Nzl) bt Majd Alkhateeb (Jor)
11/8, 11/3, 11/6 (20m)
Alix Younger (Can) bt Camille Lanier (Usa)
8/11, 11/7, 11/7, 11/7 (27m)
Georgina Stoker (Eng) v Katja Amir (Ger)
11/9, 11/6, 11/5 (19m)
Dread Sports Series #1, 01-04 Sep
|
15-Oct, Semis:
Unseded
Perry reaches DC final
David Keating reports
Unseeded Sarah-Jane Perry scored a huge upset today in the
semis over second seed Latasha Khan in a physical five-game match
filled with lets.
Perry came out hard, but Khan built leads of 5-3 and 9-6, then
stalled. Perry pulled even at 10 all, with the players trading
points until Perry reeled off three straight to win the first game
14-12.
Perry’s point run continued in the second game, where she took a
quick 5-0 lead. Khan appeared rattled as she made an
uncharacteristic five errors on the way to a 2-8 deficit. She came
back to 9-10 before dropping the next point.
Game three saw Perry again build a quick 2-0 lead, but Khan came
right back. The pair battled to 8-8 when Perry broke her strings,
which she would do again in the next game too. After a warm up with
the new racquet Khan got to game ball at 10-9, then Perry smashed a
shot into the tin to give Khan her first win.
Khan appeared more focused in game four, with just three errors.
Five lets were called on the way to a 2-0 Khan lead. At 7-5, Khan
won four of the next five points to take game four.
The decisive game five began with both players appearing to play
conservatively. At one all, both players took a long and careful
rally to the backhand, but Perry finally got an opportunity and won
the point. After the score was tied at four, Khan began to
repeatedly tin the ball, dropping to 4-7. Perry’s attacking boast
won the eighth point, and then Khan tinned again and again on the
way to losing 11-4.
Perry’s win was even more remarkable as she had tough four game
matches in both the round of 16 and quarterfinals, spanning a total
of an hour and forty-eight minutes before today’s 53-minute battle.
After the match, Perry told me “I’ve been training really hard.
Before the match my coach told me to be positive and give her credit
for being the good player that [Khan] is, but play my game.”
Throughout the tournament, I noted that Perry seems to draw an extra
shot of energy and determination whenever the game gets tough. In
response, she told me that “at my home club I’m known for three-two
matches and I don’t lose many three-two matches. So that’s always a
positive point for me when I go in the fifth game.”
Perry turned pro about three months ago and she certainly made a
statement here and could be a force to be reckoned with in the
season ahead. Perry was the largest player in this tournament, with
good power and enormous reach from the center of the court. Many
players to come will likely find that disconcerting.
 In
the other semifinal, qualifier Larissa Stephenson, a pro in
Washington DC, fell to #1 seed Dipika Pallikal in three. The
supportive home crowd responded enthusiastically when she built a
6-3 lead in game two, but Pallikal closed out the game with a six
point run.
Pallikal moves well on the court, and can reach far with her legs.
“It looks easy,” she told me, “but it’s not.” Pallikal has set
herself up well for the final, vanquishing each of her opponents in
three games.
Pallikal told me “it’s great to see more juniors playing in WISPA
matches,” and expressed hope that it would continue.
|
Streaming channel
 |
14-Oct, Quarters:
Perry takes out Tesni in DC
 The
quarter-finals of the Dread Series #2 at Sports Club/LA in
Washington DC saw top seeds Dipika Pallikal and Latasha
Khan ease through, but both will face unexpected opposition in
the semi-finals.
Pallikal beat Australian Sarah Cardwell 11/4, 11/3, 11/6 and meets
Kiwi Larissa Stephenson, who beat fellow qualifier Alix
Younger - on the eve of the Canadian's 19th birthday - 11/5, 7/11,
11/5, 11/8.
Khan wasted no time in beating her US compatriot Kristen Lange 11/5,
11/6, 11/3 and now meets England's Sarah-Jane Perry, who took
just over an hour to upset fourth seed Tesni Evans - remarkably on
the eve of the Welsh girl's 19th birthday too - 10/12, 11/9,
11/9, 14/12.
 |
Streaming channel
 |
13-Oct, Round One:
Top seeds safe but others suffer in DC
David Keating reports
While top seeds Dipika Pallikal and Latasha Khan today
easily vanquished their opponents with surgical precision, there
were upsets of the #3, #4, #6, and #8 seeds, including two by
qualifiers.
The first upset was scored by qualifier Alix Younger, who
beat the #8 and fellow Canadian Genevieve Lessard in three.
Hometown favorite Larissa Stephenson, a qualifier and pro at
a Washington DC club, handily beat the #4 seed, South Africa’s Adel
Nunan 3-0 in a crisp 24 minutes. Stephenson looked sharp and fit and
appears to have a good shot at going deep in the main draw, which
would delight the home crowd.
The most dramatic win came from Kristen Lange, who lost the
first two games and seemed headed for a quick exit after an 11-2
thrashing in game two by France’s Celia Allamargot, the #6 seed. Yet
Lange pulled herself together and jumped to a 9-3 lead in game
three. Then she lost focus and four game balls before winning her
first game 11-8. Lange again looked beaten at 9-6 in the fourth
game, but rallied to pull ahead 10-9 before winning 12-10 and then
11-8 in the fifth.
After the match, a happy Lange confessed that she needs to work on
her mental game, saying that it took her a while to “clear my mind,
stop thinking and play.” She decided to go “back to basics,” use the
court’s unique skidding nature to let “the ball work for you.” Lange
told me she started playing the game at age 8, and it shows – she
has fabulous touch, even during long rallies.
England’s Sarah-Jane Perry knocked out the #3, Canada’s
Alexandra Norman, in a tight four game battle that concluded with a
harrowing 17-15 win in the last game. Perry had an astonishing four
match balls, and had to fend off one game ball, before putting the
match away. Both women were struggling as the points wore them down,
but Perry found something extra to pull out the win.
USA’s 14-year old phenom Sabrina Sobhy continues to show incredible
promise on the court, pushing Australia’s Sarah Cardwell, the
#5 seed, to four games. Caldwell need tie breaker wins in both games
three and four to put the match away. |
Qualifying
Results
Streaming channel
Streaming will start
with two first round matches, from approx 18.00 EST
French Corner
Je mène 2/0, en gagnant le 2e jeu très facilement, je me relâche un
peu et ne m'attend pas vraiment à ce qu'elle revienne dans le match,
et finalement la roue tourne.
Je joue toujours correctement ms elle ne fait plus de fautes, bouge
beaucoup mieux et moi je ne me remettrait jamais complètement dedans
pour finalement perdre 3/2.
Les jambes étaient présentes, j'ai bien défendu mais tactiquement je
n'y étais pas. Je manque un peu de match en ce moment je pense. Je
suis actuellement en plein déménagement, je commence une nouvelle
vie et j'ai accumulé pas mal de stress depuis cet été.
C'est loin d'être une excuse mais je pense qu'à un moment donné il
faut admettre que tout ça m'a un peu dérouté, et que j'ai perdu
quelques peu certains repères. La motivation est toujours là,
l'envie aussi. C'est juste une nouvelle page qui se tourne, et
maintenant que tout commence à prendre forme je vais pouvoir me
stabiliser et repartir sur de bonnes bases.
Donc reprise de l'entrainement au plus vite, mais avant un pti
retour rapide en France avant de partir définitivement vivre aux
USA.
Prochain tournoi le Minnesota mi novembre, avec la ptite Cycy qui
viendra me rejoindre.
 |
|
13-Oct - French Corner
Un pti mot de DC, où a lieu le 2e Dread
Squash Serie.
Nous sommes hébergées dans les suites d'un super hôtel à quelques
blocks du Sports Club/LA où se déroulent les matchs.
Tout est grandeur XXL comme la plupart des choses ici, mais c'est
bien agréable, d'autant plus quand on est chouchouté! :)
Je commence demain soir contre "ma roommate" une américaine en
pleine progression.
Je te tiendrai au courant.
|
|
Qualifying
Results
Streaming channel
Streaming will start
with two first round matches, from approx 18.00 EST |
|
