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Calle Bravo Murillo, 5... Pale
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21-Oct-07 :
Qualifying for the Worlds...
After the normal panic, where is my internet, my tea, my players,
how do you say "loo" in Spanish, players, referees, officials and
press members were ready to roll at 12.00.
Since, no real upsets, the day went on as scheduled. Manuela Manetta,
Elise Ng, Runa Reta, Orla Noom and Lauren Briggs had the longest encounters, the other matches
being shorter, down to 18 minutes for Suzie Pierrepont!
I've posted a nice little round-up from Howard
(sorry, don't have photos of all the players). I tell you, he's been doing wonders
in the Press Room here, and has been helping me getting words from
the players. Thanks Howard...
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Tricia Chuah
(Mas) bt
Laura Alonso Perez (Esp)
9/2, 9/2, 9/0 (25m)
Suzie Pierrepont
(Eng) bt Dagmar Vermeulen
(Ned)
9/0, 9/1, 9/0 (18m)
Sarah Kippax (Eng)
bt Celia Allamargot (Fra)
9/0, 5/9, 9/1, 9/2 (27m)
Orla Noom (Ned)
bt
Georgina
Stoker (Eng)
9/3, 9/6, 6/9, 9/5 (52m)
Manuela Manetta (Ita) bt
Lucie Fialova (Cze)
6/9, 9/0, 9/2, 9/3 (48m)
Laura Mylotte (Irl)
bt Birgit Coufal (Aut)
9/5, 9/3, 9/5 (21m)
Louise Crome (Nzl) bt Karina Herrera Zuniga (Mex)
9/2, 9/5, 9/3 (27m)
Laura Hill (Eng) bt Anna-Carin Forstadius (Swe)
9/1, 9/0, 9/0 (22m)
Elise Ng (Hkg)
bt Frania Gillen-Buchert (Sco)
3/9, 9/6, 9/0, 9/4 (53m)
Runa Reta (Can) bt Camille Serme (Fra)
9/0, 9/3, 6/9, 9/1 (44m)
Margriet Huisman (Ned) bt Lauren Selby (Eng)
9/6, 9/0, 9/0 (28m)
Line Hansen (Den) bt Kerri Shields (Irl)
9/2, 9/1, 9/0 (23m)
Carolyn Russell
(Can) bt Elisabet Sado Garriga (Esp)
7/9, 9/1, 9/2, 9/0 (36m)
Aisling Blake (Irl)
bt Xisela Aranda Nunez (Esp)
9/0, 9/4, 9/1 (22m)
Carla Khan (Pak) bt Soraya Renai
(Fra)
9/5, 9/3, 9/0 (29m)
Lauren Briggs (Eng)
bt Karen Kronemeyer (Ned)
9/4, 9/2, 9/10, 9/1 (50m) |
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 "In
the second game, I got very tired because the court is very hot, and
she likes long rallies.
"Also, I made too many errors because I was trying to finish the
point too early.
"She is such a fit player, and she plays at a much faster pace than
I’m used to on the junior tour too.
"But overall, I’m happy with my performance. I hope I can learn from
the experience, and next time, it’ll be better!"
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A bit
of a slow start for Italian Manuela Manetta, who found the
hard hitting of the left-handed Czech Junior player Lucie Fialova
quite unsettling on a very warm court.
Still, thanks to a little lack of fitness from the young lady,
Manuela was soon able to impose her style, long rallies, lovely
attacking boasts, delicate touch at the front, over a player who will
progress on the tour as long as she concentrates a bit on the
physical aspect of our sport, as she is talented and spirited, Lucie
is...
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"I found it quite hard to
play on that court, because the ball is flying. So the first game, I
was trying to figure out what to do really.
"But once I settled down and found my game again, my length got
better, I started lobbing the ball, and moving her much more around
the court…"
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 "It's
so important for squash in Spain to have the World Open here in
Madrid - not only to make more people aware of the sport in our
country, but also to attract more girls to play the game.
"I only started playing squash five years ago, but I have won the
Canary Island championship six times. I played my first WISPA
tournament last week in Ireland - and was so pleased to win my first
match and get into the main draw.
"But Tricia was just too strong for me today, she's so consistent and
plays such a straight game. But the best player I have ever played
is Linda Elriani when I made my debut for Spain against England in
the European Team Championships last year.
"I am so happy to be part of WISPA and am so grateful for the support
of the Spanish Federation. This has been a fantastic experience and
I will take it back to Tenerife with me - and pass it on to the
group of kids who I coach there."
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"I felt uncomfortable to start with as
the court was so warm and the ball so bouncy. But I'm glad to start
the competition with a win.
"Laura was better than I expected her to her to be, so I had to work
hard. I now have to wait to see who I get in the next round ..."
Tricia Chuah |
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 "I
knew the game was going to be hard, I knew she was a very
experienced player. And as I got on top and got a lead, I started to
play short too early, and she punished me for that. And after, I had
to work very hard to come back into the game.
"Last week, all the girls working with Liz Irving were treated to a
session with Sarah Fitz-Gerald, and that was really good. She gave
us a few points to work on, volleying in particular, and I’ve tried
to integrate it to my game today.
"I’ve never qualified for the Worlds, it would be VERY special to
qualify, and to reach and justify my ranking really."
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Louise Crome (Nzl)
bt Karina Herrera Zuniga (Mex)
9/2, 9/5, 9/3 (27m) |
GOOD DEFENCE...
 An
excellent performance from the Mexican Lady in front of a group of
her supporters, and she gave Louise a good for her money, returning
quite a lot, and placing her shots nicely at the back.
But as she noted herself, her front game is not in place enough
(boy, a few mishit drop shots that looked like lobs...), and the
experience and precision of the New Zealander logically prevailed in
the end.
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 "The
score looks like it was a short and easy game, but it wasn’t! I’m
happy with my game, I’ve done everything I had to do, although I can
see there are a lot of things I need to work on, like my attacking
game. Today, I was playing everything to the back and she was
waiting for me…"
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Sarah Kippax (Eng)
bt Celia Allamargot (Fra)
9/0, 5/9, 9/1, 9/2 (27m) |
SORE THROAT FOR CELIA
(Notes from
Philippe Signoret, French Nat. Coach)
A very coughing French girl tried her
best today against the stunning Sarah who didn't come into squash to
do a Nightingale job, and made sure she forced Celia to run out of
her lungs, virtually !
Still, Allamargot succeeded to surprise the English girl by going
for all her shots in the second and at the start of the third. But
gradually, Kippax's experience and determination soon got the better
of the French girl, and the scoreline reflects the match...
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 "I
played Celia in last week's London Open, so I knew what to expect.
But after I won the first game easily, she really took me by
surprise in the second - she really played some good shots. But I
got back in control in the third.
"I've never qualified for the Worlds before so it would be really
good to do that here ..."
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 "Since
the London Open, I’ve been down with a sore throat that meant that
any rally over two shots, I was near asphyxia!
"Still, it’s a good
result for me, it’s the first time I've taken a game off Sarah.
"I had some good game sequences, I got some nice shots in, but I had
to go for my shots, I knew I couldn’t construct much with my
respiratory state, so, of course, I made a few more errors…
"So, on one hand, I’m frustrated, because I was ill, and maybe I
could have defended my chances better if I hadn’t been, but at the same
time, I’m glad I got myself pretty well out of the situation by
taking a game off her."
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 "I
didn’t go in taking it lightly, Camille has had some very good
results, in particular coming back from 2/1 down lately.
"As it was the first time I played her, I tried to mix it all up. I
noticed that she enjoyed a fast pace, so I tried to slow it down,
and to make sure to have the pace on my terms, not on hers. But I
had to stick to my game plan, as I didn’t in the third, and we saw the
result, she didn’t have any problem winning it.
"I played Elise in Calgary a few weeks ago, and beat her 3/0, but
everybody is trying to qualify, so, once again, you can’t take
anybody lightly…"
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Runa Reta
(Can) bt Camille Serme (Fra)
9/0, 9/3, 6/9, 9/1 (44m) |
 RUNA
EXPERIENCED,
CAMILLE TIRED...
(Again on
Philippe's note)
Camille was
very slow in the first two games, just late on every ball, and
didn't cause Runa any trouble.
The French girl is just exhausted from her last month where she kept
on winning WIPSA matches (quarter, semi and final in the London
Open), spending an awful lot o time on court, and today, in the third, she
gave everything she had to win the game. But she didn't have
anything left after that, against a player as solid and as
experienced as Runa.
Still, don't believe for a second it was a walk in the park for the
Canadian today, and her clenched fist at the end of the fourth game
showed clearly her determination to overcome what could have been a
threat to her qualification... |
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"I'm
very disappointed, I didn't do a good match today, where I thought I
could do well in this tournament, like I seemed to do well recently.
Plus, last year, I didn't play particularly well either...
"But she was just a better player today, and I didn't play well
tactically. Plus I could feel the accumulation of the tiredness of
those past weeks, I was slow on court at the start"
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"I felt comfortable in the
first game, but then my lack of match fitness began to show. She has
a real hard style to play against - and she's really fit.
"This is my second time in the World Open - I played in the 1996
event in Malaysia and qualified.
"It's great to have the World Open in Spain - and it would be really
good if it inspired more people to play squash."
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"I would really have liked
a day off today after losing in the Dublin final yesterday - my body
felt fine but I was tired mentally, which I'm sure I wouldn't have
been if I'd won!
"I probably messed around a little too much in the third game. I was
trying a few different things. I just tried to enjoy myself today -
which was difficult following straight on from yesterday's loss ..."
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"It's good to get through
the first qualifying round of the worlds - especially as it was
exactly a year ago that I injured my heel in the first round of the
qualifiers in Belfast and ended up being out of action for ten
months.
"Apart from messing up your fitness, it also really ruins your
confidence - so it's great to be back in action here and winning.
And after all that, it would be so good to qualify ..."
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Laura Hill
(Eng) bt Anna-Carin Forstadius
(Swe) 9/1, 9/0, 9/0 (22m) |
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"I'm really enjoying
playing the circuit while also working fulltime as a fire-fighter.
In fact, I've taken a week off work, and am here in Madrid with my
boyfriend Kevin.
"I find it really good doing things like sight-seeing in places like
this - it works for me and takes the pressure off, helping me to
feel fresher when I get on court.
"I'm playing Louise Crome next - the last time we played, in the
Carcassone semi-finals, it was 3/2 and I just won."
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 "The
fact that I won the Leinster Open yesterday in Dublin and came
straight here to play the next day, makes it feel like the same
event for me.
"The last time I played Georgina she was injured, so I
was expecting a tough game today. The court was really bouncy - but
because I'm quite tall, that suits me. I must say that I'm beginning
to feel a bit tired now - but I'm definitely happy to get through."
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Carla Khan (Pak) bt Soraya Renai
(Fra
9/5, 9/3, 9/0 (29m) |
 CARLA
IS BACK...
Yes, after more than a year of absence due to
injury, Carla Khan is now returning to the Tour, where her strength
and determination were sorely missed.
I must say it was nice to see her on court again, she plays a strong
game, and physically, she didn't seem to suffer too much for
somebody that has been away for months.
The French girl fought well, but her lack of precision on the
crosscourt opened the court too many times for the Pakistani who
didn't need any help to close the rallies out.... |
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 "I
hurt my back in the Asian Games last August, and I had to take a
year off, no squash at all, no sport of any kind, it was a pretty
serious injury, a damaged disc. I only started playing again five
months ago.
"It was nice today to play a young player, she has a lot of
determination, it’s good to see youngsters coming up…
"It’s so good to be back, there were times I didn’t think I was ever
going to play squash again. It’s so good to be back…"
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"I didn’t play too bad,
but I had trouble getting to the ball, she was maybe not moving out
of the way as much as I would have hoped for, and I started to get
frustrated. I think that if I had stayed more composed, I would have
probably played better.
"In the beginning, I was holding the rallies rather well, but as the
match unfolded, I started to go for too many drop shots, and quite
rightly, she took all the opportunities I was opening for her…
"Still, not too disappointed with my performance…"
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"It was an interesting
match, it’s always difficult to play Karen, because she goes for so
many shots, but I did enjoy it a lot, although on such a bouncy
court, it’s so difficult to get consistency in your length, I find.
And She played very well in the third, she changed her game, all
credit to her.
"Tomorrow, against Carla, it will be tough, but I’m really looking
forward to it."
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