Women's Qualifying Round One: Coline Aumard (Fra) bt Ho Ka Wing (Hkg)
11/3,
11/4, 11/4 (19m) Olga Ertlova (Cze) bt Chu Ka Hei (Hkg)
11/3,
11/9, 11/8 (40m) Carmen Lee (Hkg) bt Ho Tze Lok (Hkg)
14/12,
6/11, 11/9, 11/5 (38m)
Lee Ka Yi (Hkg) bt Elise Ng (Hkg)
11/2,
11/13, 12/10, 11/4, 11/7 (33m) Lauren Selby (Eng) bt Ho Ka Po (Hkg)
11/7,
9/11, 12/10, 11/6 (55m) Tong Tsz-Wing (Hkg) bt Sin Kei Tsang (Hkg)
11/6, 11/1, 11/2 (15m)
Leo stars on mixed day for
HK hopefuls
Day one in Hong Kong always offers a mixture of relatively quick
matches involving the mainly junior locals - they have a lot of
them to choose from - and a handful of tough matches where two
of the established internationals are pitched against each
other.
Today was no exception, and from the outset Omar Abdel Aziz v
Leo Au and Bradley Hindle v Ivan Yuen looked like two
standout matches. They were on at the same time, of course, and
both duly delivered, going to five games and putting the
schedule well behind from early in the day.
Upstairs
on court eight the home crowd was delighted to see Leo - younger
brother of Annie - twice come from behind and save four match
balls in the fifth before finally winning 17/15 in 75 minutes.
"It's not fair," said five-time Hong Kong champion Amr Shabana,
watching the end of the match, "they should both be straight
into the main draw!"
Leo was happy to find some winning form:
"When I lost in Doha, playing badly, I also lost my confidence
and it snowballed in Rotterdam for the worlds. But I guess that
playing here in Hong Kong, after practising, and practising,
help me a lot today. And now, my confidence is right up!"
Meanwhile downstairs on the showcourt Malaysian youngster Yuen
also came from 2/1 down to win in 77 minutes.
"I didn’t play very well to start with, and I quickly found
myself 2/1 down," admitted Ivan.
"But then, I started hitting harder, quicker, and also became
more patient, as I was going for my shots in the first games. In
the 5th, I got a few lucky shots, and he got very frustrated. I
understand, but that’s part of the game too! I was just lucky
today…"
The third all-international match was between Harinderpal
Sandhu and USA's Chris Gordon and that too lived up
to its billing with the young Indian coming through in four
fast-paced games.
"He was very good on the volley today in particular, everything
that was arriving in his racquet, he would put away, but he went
too fine with it maybe," said Sandhu. "The game was very fast,
very quick, I had to stay on my toes the whole time, because I
never knew what shot he was going to hit, he was attacking all
the time."
Dick Lau made it two Hong Kong players in tomorrow's
qualifying finals as he beat compatriot Ho Tze-Lok, but 11
others fell by the wayside in times ranging from 19 to 61
minutes - coincidentally both of those extremes being against
French opponents ...
HK juniors on show in
women's event
In the women's event there was success for some of the
recent and current Hong Kong junior women's team.
Carmen
Lee, just graduated from juniors, was too strong for Ho
Tze-Lok, but Choi Uen-Shan took a close four-game
encounter against Malaysian Pushppa Devi and Lee Ka-Yi
won a five-game see-saw encounter with Elise Ng, who was making
a return to action after recently retiring from the tour (the
watching Christina Mak couldn't be persuaded to do the same!).
Tong Tsz-Wing and Karman Siu boosted the numbers
of the HK young brigade in tomorrow's qualifying finals, and
while a number didn't make it several of them gave good accounts
of themselves.
Former European Junior Champion Carrie Ramsey had
to work hard too, to beat Pansy Chan in four games;
Olga Ertlova was grateful she'd built up a 10/4 lead in the
third against another HK youngster Chu Ka-Hei (the Czech thought
she should have had a stroke at that point) because the final
half-dozen rallies were very, very tough as Chu almost made it
all the way back; and Lauren Selby had a tough time too,
needing four games and 55 minutes to see off the challenge of Ho
Ka-Po. "I'm not feeling too fresh today," admitted a relieved
Englishwoman who arrived from Macau this morning.
That left Hong Kong with representation in five of tomorrow's
women's matches which are sure to draw another big, supportive
and noisy crowd ...
Leo Au (Hkg) bt Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy)
7/11, 11/3, 8/11, 11/4, 17/15 (75m)
LEO IS HOME …
As
Mister Willstrop junior would say, squash is such a mental game
it’s a joke. Take a player with a big loss of confidence after
two “bad” tournament, sprinkle a bit of soul searching, a lot of
solo practice and training, a home crowd, and zoom, you have an
upset!
Well, it was not as simple as that of course… Omar had a lot to
say, and he did too bless him.
But I felt it was like a patchy match, with the Egyptian
obviously more experienced, coming back from 1/0 down, then 2/1
down, pushing when he felt his opponent was on the tired side,
as in the 4th, but both players switching on and off.
For Omar, he could be jetlagged, for Leo, it was more physical,
he paid in the 4th for the hard work he had produced till then.
And to be honest, I thought Omar was going to walk away with the
5th, especially as he was up 3/0 too!
But that’s the exact moment the young Hong Kong player chose to
get his second wind, and hang in there. He was constantly being
score wise, but did he matter to him? It certainly didn’t. And
dug in, dug in he did.
And finally, level we were, 8/8. 9/9. The rallies were getting
even longer than they had been all along, even more disputed,
with great shots, lovely pick ups, great match of the highest
calibre, although I thought Leo was sometimes asking for too
many lets.
Still, first blood for the Egyptian, 10/9, match ball. He would
have 2 more that he couldn’t transform. And the HK player, well,
he only needed two, 17/15….
The crowd was not too unhappy, let me tell you…
Omar
is fast and skilful, so I tried and did my best to narrow his
angles…
When I lost in Doha, playing badly, I also lost my confidence.
And it snowballed in Rotterdam for the worlds. But I think it
was because I didn’t have a real game plan, whereas now, I
really try and concentrate on the work I have to do, and on what
I’m doing.
And I guess that playing here in Hong Kong, after practising,
and practising, help me a lot today. And now, my confidence is
right up!
Harinderpal Sandhu (Ind) bt Chris Gordon (Usa)
13/11, 11/8, 10/12, 11/7 (41m)
HARI IS TOO GENEROUS
Harinder is one of those players that can make their life a bit
difficult for themselves. I mean, he plays great rallies, work a
heck of a lot to build up a good game, and zoom, finds the tin
again and again…
Christmas time already???
More seriously, if the match between Omar and Leo was full of
long rallies, this one was not. More a one two three nick, or
one two three tin kind of match.
I’m not sure if Chris was jetlagged, or just tired, but he
didn’t seem neither mentally or physically at his best today I
thought. Making too many errors because going for far too much
too soon, normally the sign of somebody that doesn’t want to
rally too long. And honestly, my money was on Hari today…
To be noted, how the Indian’s honesty at a crucial time. 10/10
in the 3rd, Hari plays a boast that is clearly down to us all
but the three refs, bless them. The Indian boy stops, but as the
refs don’t call it, Chris keeps playing, loses the point, and
points out that the ball was clearly down.
“No, the ball was good” say the Central Ref. And Hari, as honest
as it comes, gives the ball back to his opponent. At 10/10 in
the 3rd, that not the easiest things to do. Well done mate.
He
was very good on the volley today in particular, everything that
was arriving in his racquet, he would put away, but he went too
fine with it maybe.
The game was very fast, very quick, I had to stay on my toes the
whole time, because I never knew what shot he was going to hit,
he was attacking all the time.
On this tournament, I want to stay on court as much as I can
because I don’t have the opportunity to play those top players
often, so I’m really looking forward to my next match…
I
didn’t play very well to start with, I seemed to have trouble
getting used to the court conditions, it’s very cold on that
central court, the ball dies, and if you don’t hit it hard, it
doesn’t go anywhere. And quickly I found myself 2/1 down.
But then, I started hitting harder, quicker, and the ball
started to get deeper in the court, and it worked. I also became
more patient, as I was going for my shots in the first games….
In the 5th, I got a few lucky shots, and he got very frustrated.
I understand, but that’s part of the game too! I was just lucky
today…
He
was very good on the volley today in particular, everything that
was arriving in his racquet, he would put away, but he went too
fine with it maybe. 
I
didn’t play very well to start with, I seemed to have trouble
getting used to the court conditions, it’s very cold on that
central court, the ball dies, and if you don’t hit it hard, it
doesn’t go anywhere. And quickly I found myself 2/1 down.
