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Wed 25th, Day ONE |
Player on Player
issue #1 |
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Qualifying Finals:
[1] Stephanie Edmison (Can) bt [7] Ivonne Diaz (Mex)
9/7, 9/5, 7/9, 9/7 (44m)
plays Urquhart
[5] Thaisa Serafini (Bra) bt [4] Nayelly Hernandez (Mex)
9/0, 9/2, 9/7 (47m)
plays Manetta
[3] Tina Rix (Eng) bt Tatiana Damasio Borges (Bra)
7/9, 9/7, 9/6, 9/0 (38m)
plays Pierrepont
[2] Eman El Amir (Egy) bt Belkys Magaly Velez (Ecu)
9/2, 9/2, 9/1 (18m)
plays Crome |
Qualifying complete in LA
The 2008 edition of the EBG Los Angeles Open got under way with four
qualifying matches that saw three of the top seeds safely through to
the main draw.
Stephanie Edmison, Eman El Amir and Tina Rix
were joined by Thaisa Serafini as the Brazilian caused a
minor upset in beating Nayelly Hernandez. Their reward is a place in
the main draw of one of the last tournaments of the season and one
of the last to use standard scoring. |
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[1] Stephanie Edmison (Can) bt [7] Ivonne Diaz (Mex)
9/7, 9/5, 7/9, 9/7 (44m)
plays Urquhart
Stephanie squeezes through
Top seed for the qualifying event, Stephanie always had a touch more
power to call on than her opponent, but Ivonne made the Canadian
work hard all the way.
After winning a tight first game Stephanie let an 8/1 lead fritter
away before taking the second, lost out from 7-all in the third but
proceeded to quickly establish an 8/1 lead in the fourth. Three
match balls came and went as the Mexican dug in well and came to
within one point of levelling.
A loose shot resulted in a stroke, and a relieved Stephanie finally
clinched a place in the main draw with a low drive to the back, a
shot that had earned her many points along the way.
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 "I
just had to try and pound it into the corners, especially on the
backhand - the courts are hot and the ball stays up so I was
struggling early on until I started doing that.
"She started to pick up what I was doing which made it hard in the
third, but after getting a lead in the fourth I stopped paying
attention.
"That's the worst thing you can do, but that's one thing going to
PAR will stop because once someone's got a lead it's too late ...
"I didn't feel any pressure being top seed for the qualifying, but
I'm happy to get through..."
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 "I'm
very happy with that. I started well but the third was very hard,
she changed her game and I lost it a little, so I was pleased to get
the third game."
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[5] Thaisa Serafini (Bra) bt [4] Nayelly Hernandez (Mex)
9/0, 9/2, 9/7 (47m)
plays Manetta
Serafini seals her place
This was a much closer match than the scoreline suggests, between
two players who cover the court well and are not afraid to go for
their shots when the opportunity arises.
In the first two games the rallies were well contested, but it was
the Brazilian who was on the winning end of most of them. In the
third Nayelly cut out the errors that had been costing her dear and
went into a 6/2 lead.
Thaisa pulled a couple of points back, but Nayelly then needed to
change the grip on her racket. There wasn't time for that change to
be completed so she went back on with a borrowed racket and never
really looked comfortable again as Thaisa pressed home the
advantage.
 "I
tried to get a better length after the first two games and started
to volley more - the ball bounces around so much here and we were
both just hitting it to the back so I also started putting some
drops in to change it around a bit.
"Then I had a problem with my grip and playing with another racket,
it makes a big big difference ..."
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[3] Tina Rix (Eng) bt Tatiana Damasio Borges (Bra)
7/9, 9/7, 9/6, 9/0 (38m)
plays Pierrepont
Tina stops the tins
Tina Rix, the Englishwoman resident in the USA for the last 18
months, couldn't stop hitting the tin - much to her own annoyance -
in the early part of this match. That wasn't the whole story though,
as Tatiana started off at a fast pace and used her powerful
shotmaking to force many of those errors.
Slowly though, Tina began to find her range and began to get on top,
and was in increasing control as the match went on.
Her reward is a match against Suzie Pierrepont, who joined her in
Philadelphia last November and who she plays most days .... such is
the luck of the draw !
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 "I
was actually quite nervous to start with, I don't know why. She
surprised me a bit with the pace, and the fact we're used to playing
on colder courts didn't help.
"I started getting my range and volleying more, not just trying to
chop it in, and I started to get a bit of confidence towards the end
of the third."
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[2] Eman El Amir (Egy) bt Belkys Magaly Velez (Ecu)
9/2, 9/2, 9/1 (18m)
plays Crome
Eman eases through
A comfortable enough win for the Egyptian, whose consistency and
shotmaking proved a little too much for the Ecuadorian number one to
cope with.
"I'm
still quite jetlagged actually. You feel a bit dizzy on court and
I'm not used to that, you try to concentrate but your head is gone.
"She's not a bad player, so I tried to keep it at the back, putting
a dropshot in when she put it short.
"I don't mind who I play tomorrow, but I hope I feel better by then,
this is my sleep time !"
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Ready to roll for '08
After a long trip (down to London for an overnight stay, 8 hour
flight to Detroit, 5 hour flight to LA), and no luggage mishaps (see
Focus 2007), here we are in LA the day
before the competition starts.
Supremo Bob Hanscom - looking remarkably fit and well - is
putting the final touches in place, with the flowers for decorating
the courts and the mugs arriving today.
Some of the players are here, with the rest due to arrive over the
next 24 hours, and the action starts with four qualifying finals
from 18.00 on Wednesday.
We'll cover the squash, of course, but there's so much more
happening inside and outside the club, so we'll try to keep you
interested in what would otherwise be a pretty quiet week,
squash-wise ...
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