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TODAY in Hurghada                                       Framboise reports from Hurghada

[3] Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy) bt [1] Rachael Grinham (Aus) 5/9, 9/2, 5/9, 10/8, 9/3 (84m)

[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [3] Karim Darwish (Egy)                 8/11, 11/5, 11/9, 11/5 (49m)

[2] Jenny Duncalf (Eng) bt [6] Raneem El Weleily (Egy)           9/1, 9/3, 10/9 (42m)

[2] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [4] Wael El Hindi (Egy)                    9/11, 11/5, 11/8, 11/9 (58m)
  

"At 8/3 in the fourth, I had match ball, and that is really the most important moment of the match!

"I’m not sure I lost a bit of focus there, but up to there, she made a few unforced errors, and I guess I was a bit eager to finish it quickly, and instead of being patient and keeping her in the back like I’d been doing earlier, I went a bit too short. While she came back to being steady, and then it was 8/8, and suddenly, it was 2/2!

"I’m not sure what happen exactly in the 5th, I remember that I found myself down 5/1 very quickly. And she hold it together, mentally. I’m not used to her waiting that long, and being patient. In the past, I had a bit of an advantage mentally, but this time, she really kept it together…"

OMNEYA SO STRONG

I didn’t expect such a superb performance from Omneya, who’s accustomed us in the past to a few ups and downs in her mental commitment in her game. Often, she is playing well, then starts going for too short far too early, and ends up tinning shot after shot. And I personally thought it was in the cards as Rachael was so in control, playing her usual stunning slowing down, lobbing at will, attacking at the right time game.

But today, Omneya showed us the stunning range she possesses, not only did she hit and counterattack so precisely, but today her length was just superb as well, and so tight!

Still, Rachael had the match “in the pocket” in the fourth, now 2/1, caracoling ahead 6/1 then 8/3, where she had her first match ball. And we saw a complete transformation in Omneya, who up to then seemed tired, and suddenly gave it a last push. She clawed back up to 7/8. Rachael got her second match ball, saved by a stylish flick from the Egyptian.

And that was basically the end for Rachel. A few minutes later, she was down 6/1 in the fifth, and lost a match to a player she trains a lot with, and for whom she has not only respect but also great friendship, and who maybe today, was that much hungrier for victory.

They both declared that it was one of their best ever encounters. It felt like it from here…

"Oh my god!

The conditions were much better today than the other day, there is less wind and the conditions are better, normal I would say. And I play with Rachael so much, we know each other’s game…

In the 4th, I was 8/3 down match ball, but we didn’t play too hard up to there, so I was not that tired, so I decided to give it a last push, and I changed my tactic. Instead of playing soft shots – and putting them in the tin – and lobbing ball, basically playing Rachael’s game like I did in the beginning of the 4th, I starting hitting hard. I told myself to giving it a last push, and see what happens . And I ended up winning that game.

I think that Rachael was maybe a bit tired at the end, and I had the advantage of the crowd, and I was really up for it. I feel this is the best match we played so far, I hope that Raneem wins, and that we can play an all Egyptian final here in Hurghada…"

KARIM NEVER WAS COMFORTABLE

Those tournaments that see compatriots/team mates facing each other are never benign, it’s all a question of national supremacy. And if in France, we say ‘you put the Church back at the centre of the village”, here I guess you could say “Shabana put the Mosque back at the centre of the Casba?!” What does it mean? It means that Shabana wanted all to see that he was still the Prince of Egypt…

In front of him, he had Karim Darwish, newly married, so focused, so hungry for victory and recognition in his own country, but who today didn’t look comfortable on court. He played very fast, much faster than he normally plays, and maybe he got a bit out of his depth in the second and third, only to come back with a vengeance in the fourth. But once Shabana is in front scorewise, he is extremely hard to beat… and even Karim exquisite drop shots and counter attacks couldn’t master Amr's astonishing pace today….

"We were both trying to control the T, and we were telling each other, this is my space, no this is MY space... It happens a lot, and stays on the court.... Karim is such an great player, he plays superb shots, he is top 3 player, and he'll be up there one day, very soon

"Although I never played Raneem, I've seen her play, I know what she can do, and that she is the junior that is really getting a lot of good results.

I didn't want to give her too much of a look in, I wanted to keep on top of her as long as possible, to keep the pressure on. And she made a few unforced errors that just clipped the tin.

She started to play better in the mid part of the second game, and in the third, she just cut down the errors, I went for too short instead of keeping here behind me, and it became very tight at the end. I'm happy I kept it in three...."

QUEL GACHIS…

She is so gifted, that Raneem. She’s got the lot, the speed, the accuracy, the touch, the brain. But it’s still doesn’t quite gel together yet. It’s like she is just playing instinctively, without constructing rallies or applying a tactic.

So, either the ball hits the tin, and it’s an unforced error, or it’s a good shot, and it’s a stunning astonishing shot! But no length really, no building up of rallies, offering her opponent, Jenny on that occasion, all latitude to play as she pleases…

But finally, the Egyptian started to play a mature, clever squash. We were in the third game, and she was 2/0 down, nothing to lose anymore. And it worked. She was up 6/2, let her old demons creep back, allowing Jenny to catch up at 7/7, still manage to get two game balls, but Jenny eventually transformed her third match ball, to take the match 10/9 in the third…

[2] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [4] Wael El Hindi (Egy)  
                  9/11, 11/5, 11/8, 11/9 (58m)

WHAT HAPPENED????

I’ve seen Wael play on all courts type and in so many different countries, but one thing is sure, I’ve never seen him play at such a pace! Whatever he is on, I want some, I tell you. Even Ramy was on the backfoot, and had to retrieve like Peter Nicol to just keep in the rallies for three games, only to find his shots/balance at the start of the fourth.



But by that time, Wael had full confidence in his pace, in his game, and it could have easily gone to the fifth, and then, who knows…

This match was Squash in its purest form, reflex, magic, astonishing, brilliant. Like James Willstrop said one day watching Azlan playing Ramy just after the Malaysian beat the Prince of Egypt, “this is ridiculous squash”, as we were both gob masked at the speed/intensity of it all

Well, this was squash in his most ridiculous form. What a match, but what a match!

I came on this tournament to test myself, because I’ve just finished training with Jonah [Barrington], and I don’t want to keep on playing all the time at the same pace. So today, I decided to try it out, and the feedback I got from the people seems to prove that I made the right choice.

It’s nice to play at a different pace, I’ve been preparing and thinking about this the whole week, testing that pace, which means that now I’ve got a plan A and a plan B. I know it didn’t really work, as I lost the match, but I take the positive out of it..

It was very close in the 3rd and 4th, and it’s like Ramy said to me after the match, it could have gone either way. And I keep on trying to get angry because I’ve lost, but I can’t, because I feel we both gave 100%...

Wael is such a clever player, he is very good at pulling you into his game, sometimes, he calls himself the King of the BackHand, so one day, I told him, I’m the Prince, let’s play ball, it was funny!

He is very fast at the front, and at the same time, he knows how to manage his effort. Actually, he is one of the players I studied when I got on the tour, because he was not that fit, and still, managed to stay on for five games. That how I learned to do what he is doing, before I was all over the place, all fiery, now, I’ve learnt…

We know each other’s game pretty well, and it’s so much harder because he knows my game, and I know his, and we were reading each other’s game so well…

You know the way Wael plays normally, I feel like I’m going to take a pillow and fall asleep because he plays so slow, so I thought he was going to play like that. But he came out firing with all guns in the first game, and I felt that I had to play faster and faster, to match him, and get even faster than he was.

At the start of the match, I was fighting with so many images, like the last time we played, it was so tight, it went 3/2, and I was 2/0, and I had trouble keeping my mind on things. Only in the second I was able to start focusing…

The conditions were very windy on court, and it felt like there was no action on court at all, like you were trying to hit the ball hard, but it was not going anywhere…

At 9/9 in the last game, I must say I was lucky with that shot that bounced off the side wall. But for the last rally, I really worked very hard, and I still see my last shot in my mind, crosscourt drop shot…

  
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