With two and a half Egyptians already
through to the last eight (Rachael Grinham is the half), tonight
saw one more join them. Before that happened though, two English
and one Irish made it through.
Lauren Briggs and Sarah Kippax matched each other
for five games, and extra points in the decider looked a
certainty until Sarah fluffed her lines on Lauren's first match
ball.
Madeline Perry and Jenny Duncalf both took on
young Egyptians, and while it probably won't be long before
Kanzy El Dafrawy and Nour El Sherbini will be taking the world's
best to task, tonight showed that they're not ready for that yet
- but they have time, a lot of time, on their side.
Which left it to Raneem El Weleily to score one for the
slightly-older Egyptian brigade as she ended the run of Nour El
Tayeb.
Closer than Close
They're only one place apart in the world rankings, so on paper
it looked as though a close match was in store ... and so it
proved.
This was one of those matches that bears a resemblance to chess
- both playing neat, tidy, patient squash, trying to work the
opening but not taking too many risks.
Sarah Kippax started the better, capitalising on a 5-1 lead to
take the first, aided and abetted by a few consecutive errors
from Lauren Briggs when she threatened to close the gap.
Lauren cut out those errors in the second, pulled away from
mid-game to level, but although she didn't do too much wrong in
the third, nothing seemed to go her way as the points racked up
on Sarah's side of the scoreboard. 5-0 became 9-1 became a 2-1
lead.
The last two were pretty close, both seeming to have found their
groove now. Lauren edged ahead in the fourth, pulling away from
5-all, but the fifth went point for point, Sarah with the slight
advantage early on, but as 6-all, 7-all, 8-all and 9-all came,
extra points looked a certainty.
A boast into the tin from Sarah gave Lauren match ball, followed
by the longest rally of the match. Sarah forced Lauren into a
backwall boast, advanced to the front to put it away ... and hit
the tin.
"I
felt a bit edgy, as we're so close in the rankings and it's
always difficult playing another English girl. I spent most of
the first four games getting used to the court, and most of the
fifth getting my legs to work!
"We had some good straight rallies, I was a bit reluctant to go
short as she's very quick and I didn't want to give her too much
scope at the front of the court, I mainly tried to keep a good
length and threw some lobs up into the lights when I needed to.
"Thankfully she made a few errors in the fifth - on the last
point I had no idea where the ball was going to go, but when I
heard the noise I guessed it was down!
"It's good to get a runout on the court in the dark, it's very
different from when we practice on it during the day .... it's
just a pity I don't get a rest day tomorrow!"
[4] Madeline Perry (Irl) bt [Q] Kanzy El Dafrawy (Egy)
11/6, 11/6, 11/4 (27m)
Perry ends Kanzy's
run
It was always going to be a tough ask for Kanzy El Dafrawy to
take on fourth seed Madeline Perry, the British Open finalist,
but the young Egyptian gave as good as she got at the start of
the first two games.
Madeline wasn't about to let her get away though, quickly closed
Kanzy's early leads as she took both games to six.
Increasingly dominant as the match progressed, Madeline was
working Kanzy around the court now, and from around 5-1 in the
third Kanzy knew the writing was on the wall. She never stopped
trying, but she was never going to pull it back, and Madeline
was soon enough into the quarters.
"The
start of the first was the toughest part of the match, after
that I felt pretty much in control.
"I'd never even seen her play, so I didn't know what to expect
apart from the fact that all these young Egyptians are good and
you can't afford to take them lightly!
"I started to make her move around the court a lot as the match
went on, she kept on running but sort of ran out of ideas.
"I play another Egyptian next round, so it was good to get some
practice against their style of play!"
Just
as in the previous match, here we had an experienced campaigner
from the upper echelons of the world order taking on an up and
coming Egyptian junior. The junior in question just happened to
be the youngest World Champion ever, but the end result was the
same, a straight games win for experience over youth.
Jenny Duncalf was in control for the vast majority of the match.
Nour El Sherbini was certainly in the rallies, and they had more
than a few tough, long ones, but somehow she never looked the
one likely to win them.
Denying Sherbini the loose balls in the middle she feeds off so
well, Jenny took the first comfortably and the second at a
canter.
Only when 4-0 down in the third did we see the best of Sherbini,
as she worked her way back, getting the better of the exchanges
for the first time, moving 6-5 ahead. Jenny tightened up though,
and closed out the match in convincing style.
"I felt pretty in
control for most of the match, apart from the start of the
third. I probably stepped off it a bit but she moved up and
started to take advantage.
"She's a good up and coming player, but you've got to try to
keep the youngsters down for as long as you can. I didn't know
what to expect, but I didn't take her lightly at all."
[6] Raneem El Weleily (Egy) bt [Q] Nour El Tayeb (Egy)
11/7, 4/11, 11/6, 11/8
(34m)
Raneem's
experience tells
Just
as the day started with a same-country clash, so it ended, with
the higher-ranked player also winning this one.
It was hardly a matter of experience versus youth, but
21-year-old Raneem El Weleily, twice world junior champion, did
have the edge over 15-year-old Nour El Tayeb for the bulk of the
match.
Nour kept going, as she does, unwilling to accept anything as a
lost cause, but was unable to make an impression in the first
game.
She got a quick start in the second though, helped along the way
by a few too many errors from Raneem, who quickly lost interest
in the chase.
She regained her interest and focus from the start of the fourth
though, and although she couldn't make a decisive break, was
always marginally on top for the next two games. A few more
desperate lunges from Nour weren't enough, as as Raneem made it
three and a half Egyptian in the quarters ...
"I
play with her a lot, we're at the same club and practice
together, so we both know what to expect. She's very talented,
attacks a lot and you have to expect the unexpected.
"I felt a little slow today, not really on my toes enough. In
the second I was trying to hit the ball too hard, and that just
doesn't work on this court, it tends to bounce out and sit up,
so I had to try and find the right pace to play at."
"The
start of the first was the toughest part of the match, after
that I felt pretty much in control.
