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[7]
Tesni Evans (Wal)
3-2 [5] Heba El Torky (Egy)
12-10, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5 (67m)
The first game started with
Heba under high surveillance from the central Ref Nasser that
wanted to make sure the "little refereeing
hiccup" in the semis would stay only
that. If you haven't read my repport, Tesni's semi last night
had been impaired by a "bad day at the office" from a ref that
just muddled up score a few times. And it could have reflected
badly on the refs that honestly had been pretty good all week!
So strict Nasser was, and Heba was warned to "focus on the
court, and to forget about the refs" after the Egyptian young
lady questionned a few calls, maybe losing a bit of her focus
and concentration in the process.
And focus, she needed, Heba did, because it was a pretty close
and intense match from the first rally. 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5,
6/6, 7/7, 8/8, and yes you guessed 9/9, 10/10...Tesni finally
takes the opening game 12/10 on her second game ball.
 Heba
comes back with a vengeance, and hitting hard and low, she zooms
at 6/2, 9/3 to level it up 11/6. And it doesn't look good for
the Welsh girl when she loses the third one, from 5/5, she will
only score two points, losing that game 11/7. It looked like she
hit the wall really.
But strangely enough, Heba seemed to tense up, like tetanised
from that point on. Did she put too much pressure on herself?
Did the change of tactic from her opponent unsettled her? I'm
not sure. But it's her turn, from 5/5, to only score 2 points,
to lose the 4th 11/7.
An excellent start for Heba in the 5th, 3/1, but Tesni levels it
up at 3/3, and rushes to 6/3. Heba is more and more tense. Tesni
is now in complete control, 7/3, 10/4 and match, 11/5. A very
fair crowd saluted Tesni's performance, the Girl that Loves her
Five Setters...
 I'm
very happy to win this. I was 2/1 down, and at that point, I was
realllly down. I couldn't see a way through, I couldn't see the
end.
So I told myself, this is it. Push. And when I got the 4th, I
thought, ok, just one more game.
 I
think that Heba tensed a little bit from the 4th, maybe because
I wasn't giving her any pace.
I need to thank a few people, my family, and more particularly
my dad, as he is coaching me, also Simon, Line and Deon, who got
me through today, Welsh Squash and Sports Wales for all their
support, and my sponsor Karakal, they are the best!!!
[1]
Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy)
3-2 Ali Farag (Egy)
11-6, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 12-10 (80m)
 That
was the match of the tournament, and quite fittingly, the last
one! What a match, what a joy, what amazing fair and amazing
talents we had to close this tournament.
Ali didn't start as cleverly as he played the other matches. For
a whole game, he tried and matched Karim on his own turf, as in
playing "reflex squash", a bit of a junior match really,
condition game: we are not hitting anything but short, no use of
the backwall allowed.
Mmmm, at that game, Karim is the master.
So in the second, Ali became a bit wiser. He started to remember
that there is a backwall, and that if you want to put your
opponent under pressure, making the court big for him is a good
start. And he started to find a better length, although he kept
courtcrossing without a good enough width. Still, he takes the
second on 11/8, and we now have a nice match on our hands.
The third is riddled by 4 unforced errors from Ali in no time.
The boy is paying the price of a long week and heavy matches.
But he comes back in it, as Karim is not that fresh either bless
him. 2/2, 5/5, 8/8, 9/9. Karim shows a bit his exerience at
crucial time, a nice deception and a squeeze, 11/9 from Karim.
 But
in the 4th, he is clearly tired, and Ali, who know has found his
second win, is playing better and better. A good use of the lob,
allied with a much better width, and lovely counterdrops, 5/2,
7/4, 9/5 and game 11/6. Of COURSE we were going to five, why
change the habit of the week!
Now Karim is the one looking fresh, while Ali hits the wall,
5/2, 8/3 for Karim. A little bit of inattention from Karim while
Ali has got nothing to lose anymore, and a few ridiculous
rallies later, we are back at 8/8. It's nailbitting stuff, and
Ali's parents, sitting just in front of me, are quietly
encouraging their son, although their hearts must have gone
booom booom....
But scoring 5 points in a row took a lot of mental energy from
Ali, 10/8 in no time, match ball Karim. A superb backhand boast
- gutsy stuff at that point of the match, and a provoqued tin,
10/10. Another stupendous rally, this time, Ali clipps it, third
match ball. A last squeeze, and Ali very sincerly embraces his
opponent, extremely relieved with that ending.
"It was a flip of a coin. Two nights ago, it went my way.
Tonight, it didn't...."
 All
the matches I played with Ali have always been clean and fair
matches. He is one of the fairest player on Tour, and nobody can
ever play anything but clean matches against him.
As you know, he is a very fast player and I am not still 100%
fit, so I was trying to best to win 3/0. And to be honest I was
dead in the third, and to that moment I still don't know how I
won this!
I am lucky in the 5th, as he made a very unforced errors at the
end.
I'm very happy to win this and end my season on a high after the
issues I had this week. Now I'm going to be able to train hard
during the summer on my fitness, and start the second part of
the season in good condition.
I need to thank my parents for everything they did for me, since
I started squash I was 6 up to now, they have been so supportive
of me. And a big thank you to my coaches Mohamed Abbas and Omar
Abdel Aziz for the hard work they are doing with me.
 I
started with the wrong tactic. He moves pretty well on court as
you know and I needed to mix my pace, which I didn't do at all
in the first game.
It was really a Battle of the Backhand Side tonight. When I was
crosscourting, he would volley and kill me. So I had to find an
alternative, either a lob or a sidewall boast. But I had to be
careful as he is lethal whenever he can put his racquet on the
ball!
Every time we play, he seems to get an extra gear in the last
game!
At the end, it was a flip of a coin, two nights ago, it went my
way. Tonight, it didn't. But Hamdullah very much, because I
could have been out of the tournament in the first round!
I need to thank the four people that were with him this week, my
parents, Bassem and Nour my fiancée, without forgetting my
brother/coach Wael, and also my former coach Mike Way.
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