Round TWO  

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Top four through to quarters

Round two started with four matches on the glass court, featuring the top four seeds in the women's event.

Nicol David took on one of her training partners in Amsterdam, Annelize Naude, breezing through in half an hour. It was harder work for fourth seed Tania Bailey who withstood a stern mid-match challenge from Shelley Kitchen before closing it out.

Next up were the Grinham sisters, third seed Rachael easing through in an all-Aussie clash with Kasey Brown, while second seed Natalie found herself a game and 5-3 down to Alison Waters before dominating the rest of the match to join Rachael in the quarters.

Omneya Abdel Kawy started the evening session with a marathon five-game win over Laura Lengthorn, which was followed by a quickfire win for Vicky Botwright over British Champion Jenny Duncalf.

Natalie Grainger continues to look in good forr, beating Engy Kheirallah in three, while in the last match on defending champion Vanessa Atkinson beat Madeline Perry in straight games.
 

Gallery

[14] Peter Barker (Eng) bt [1] Amr Shabana (Egy)
11/7, 11/8, 2/11, 11/8 (46m)

"It was a combination of a slow start by him and I really started well. It normally takes me a while to get comfortable at the front, but I knew I had to get there quickly today, I knew he probably wasn't 100% physically, and it just happened right from the start.

"My backhand was good again today, and we played most of the match down that side, hardly any rallies on the forehand. His forehand is such a weapon I was conscious of keeping it off that side.

"I got a little impatient in the third, he stepped it up a bit and I didn't go with him, but I got it back in the fourth.

"I haven't had a better win than that, that's right at the top of the pile."

[3] Ramy Ashour bt [15] Olli Tuominen
       11/5, 10/12, 11/4, 11/9 (53m)

"He came back well in the second, even though I made a few mistakes he won it. Then I started playing well again in the third, playing the right shots again, but I went loose again in the fourth.

"He's like a machine, he runs, he never stops, so you have to be a double machine against him. I haven't played a match at a really fast pace like that for a while so I was happy to be able to do that.

"Yesterday's match affected me physically, I didn't have a quick takeoff and I was diving a lot to get to shots.

"Now I need good rest, good food and I'll come back tomorrow stronger …"

[5] Vicky Botwright bt [12] Jenny Duncalf 9/0, 9/4, 9/2 (33m)

"Mentally I was prepared for a long battle and a good old slog, but it just didn't materialise, she got off to a bad start and it just got worse.

"My game seems more suited to this court, her shots were kicking out, but I had a definite gameplan and I was going to stick with it even if a couple of points went by.

"To get Jenny in the second round is hard - even though I'm higher seeded, she's British Champion. I've got good memories of the glass court, beating Rachael and Nicol last time, so I'm looking forward to getting back on it, even though I haven't even looked at who I'll be playing …"


 

[3] Rachael Grinham bt [16]  Kasey Brown
          9/2, 9/3, 9/0 (26m)

"It's so much better on the glass, the back courts are so hard to play on. When you play on here if you're not quite on your game it really shows, but out there it's hard to see the difference, it's such a leveller.

"It wasn't easy, Kasey never gives you any easy points, you have to win your rallies, but she's not one of these scary players at the front, so I had more confidence to try out my angles.

"It was a good match to get me used to the court, although I'm still suffering a bit from my last match in Kuwait!"

[2] Natalie Grinham bt [11] Alison Waters 4/9, 9/5, 9/4, 9/0 (46m)

"I wanted to get in front of her at the start, and it was working well until 5-all in the second. I had a shot at 5-3 which I missed which I dwelt on, and before I knew it she was in the lead.

"I felt good at the start of each game but she seemed to step it up. She's so fast, you think you've hit a winner but they keep on coming back. She was just too strong in the fourth."

[8] Lee Beachill bt [Q] Alister Walker
11/5, 11/7, 11/8 (39m)

"I usually do ok against him, but the difference between him putting the ball slightly off and to perfection - like he's doing now - makes all the difference.

"I attacked when I could but there was just nothing I could do against him today.

"It's been a good two weeks for me though, I'm really happy with my performances in both tournaments."

[10] Wael El Hindi bt [4] Anthony Ricketts
       3/11, 11/8, 10/12, 11/4, 11/7 (71m)

"It was really tough, and very intense stuff. All week people have been telling me Anthony's injured, so I was thinking about that, watching his knew, I lost 40% of my concentration and he came out very fast which made me panic.

"I started playing slower, putting it into the back to get my concentration back, which worked and it made him a bit nervous.

"There was a lot of contact in the backhand corner, we were both playing it there all the time, lots of spells of just volleying it down there as if we were playing in a corridor. As soon as someone made an opening we'd go for it, but there were a lot of collisions, a lot of decisions, but at least the ref was consistent.

"At the end I managed to get a good couple of shots that gave me the match. That's my second quarter-final this week, I lost the last one so we'll have to see how it goes, I've not played Beach for a while …"

[7] Karim Darwish bt Cameron Pilley
11/4, 11/5, 11/5 (30m)

"I played well, my shots were working well and he was maybe a little slow after yesterday's match. I'm happy to get to the quarters, I like the look of the glass court."

Karim Darwish

[7] Omneya Abdel Kawy bt [10] Laura Lengthorn 10/8, 8/10, 5/9, 9/6, 9/3 (84m)

"It could have been a lot easier - I was 8/1 up in the second, it's all in the head, I don't know what happens when I get to eight, it's like a blackout.

"She played really well, and she was guessing a lot of my shots, and she was getting to so much that I was thinking too much before I played the ball which was making it difficult for myself.

"At 2/1 down I was so angry with myself, I started arguing with the ref, but he was ok, it was me. I tried to calm down and concentrate more, that worked for a while but I started arguing again."

"I didn't hold my shots for three games, but I started to do that in the last two and it worked. She started guessing those too, so I changed again.

"Thank God I won today, I hope to play better than that against Nicol tomorrow, I'll need to ..."

[5] Nick Matthew bt [Q] Omar Mosaad
11/8, 11/6, 11/9 (42m)

"It wasn't one of my best matches, but I did just enough. He was going for everything from the start, and he has tremendous racket head speed and very skilful shots.

"I had nothing to gain, I'm more relieved to have got off in three. He could easily have taken a game and then it would have got tricky. Now for the real deal tomorrow …"


 

[6] Natalie Grainger bt [13] Engy Kheirallah
9/4, 9/6, 9/2 (34m)

"That was a good one for me, three-nil with no 10/8 or scares like that. She got a few points ahead in the second when I made some stupid decisions, but I regrouped and smacked the ball to beback for a while and it worked!"

Nicol David bt Annelize Naude  
     9/3, 9/0, 9/3 (28m)

"That was a tough one, I tried to get as much out of it as I could. She was on the ball today, it was very hard to get it past her, and she varies the pace so well.

"We play a lot in training, you could tell a few times she knew exactly what I was going to do.

"Next tournament for me is the Irish Open in Dublin, it's always a very enjoyable event and a nice place to visit."

Tania Bailey bt Shelley Kitchen 
    9/3, 9/7, 2/9, 9/3 (53m)

"I started slowly, trying to work out the court as I haven't played on it much. Once I did that I was able to take it short and move her forward.

"It would have been nice to take the second, but she hung in well, and by the end of the third she'd stopped making so many mistakes.

"After she caught up in the fourth I stopped concentrating as well and I just couldn't get past her in the end."

... and one from a different book!

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Qatar Classic 2006(7)

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