|
|
|
TODAY in Madrid:
22nd Oct, Qualifying Finals ... |
22-Oct-07:
|
Suzie
Pierrepont (Eng) bt Tricia Chuah (Mas)
9/1, 9/6, 9/6
(34m)
plays Waters
Manuela Manetta
(Ita) bt Laura Mylotte (Irl)
9/4, 9/6, 9/1 (34m)
plays Lengthorn-Massaro
Orla Noom
(Ned) bt
Sarah Kippax (Eng)
9/3, 9/6,
4/9, 1/9, 9/3 (61m) plays Abdel Kawy
Louise Crome (Nzl)
bt Laura Hill (Eng)
9/6, 6/9,
9/6, 3/9, 9/0 (88m) plays R. Grinham
Runa Reta (Can)
bt Elise Ng (Hkg)
0/9, 9/4, 9/4, 9/3 (71m)
plays Kheirallah
Aisling Blake (Irl) bt Carolyn Russell (Can)
9/0, 5/0, 7/9, 9/7, 9/2
(72m)
plays Brown
Line Hansen (Den)
bt Margriet Huisman (Ned)
9/2, 9/7, 9/3 (56m)
plays Chiu
Lauren Briggs
(Eng) bt Carla Khan (Pak)
7/9, 9/7, 9/3, 9/2
(55m) plays Kitchen |
NEARLY THERE....
 If
yesterday everything went according to plan, today we started with
a first upset,
Suzie
Pierrepont, world ranked 45, coming back from injury, beating in 34 minutes
the qualifying top seed Tricia Chuah. That was a big
disappointment for the Malaysian, but an extraordinary joy for the
English girl, who I saw last year on crutches, and who I feared
never to see again on the Tour...
 And
then, 21 year old
Orla Noon,
world number 40, got a massive win against Sarah Kippax.
That was a match that attracted a lot of interest, and saw the Dutch girl leading comfortably 2/0, to be caught up 2/2, and
show remarkable maturity by regrouping to take the last game 9/3.
For the other match, quite logically,
Manuela Manuetta
got the better of an exhausted
Laura Mylotte,
who was controlling the rallies very well, only to end most of them
by putting the ball in the tin ...
 A
very slow start for Canadian
Runa Reta, who took a 9/0 opening game before adjusting and tightening
her game against Hong Kong's
Elise Ng. Those
two have the same king of game, but Runa is just slightly better
at it than her younger opponent.
Line
Hansen's score line may read 3/0, but it was a hard battle for
sure, the disappointment on Margriet Huisman's face said as much.
A match that I thought was going to go to five was
Lauren Briggs
against Carla Khan. But if Carla hit as hard as she still
knows how, she just lacks matches, and both mentally and physically,
she struggled in the end.
The end of the day was a stunning match it must be said, tense as
well, between
Aisling Blake and
Carolyn Russell, who now has a full-time job but came all the way from Canada, and was
THAT close to qualifying for the World Open. A long match, intense
and hard fought. As ever, a winner was needed....
|
First Day
Qual.
En bref
 |
|
 "I
am so very happy. I thought I played well - I've been working hard
for the past three or four months with my coach Marcus Berrett in
Milan (about an hour away from where I live) and I'm so glad it has
all come together so well
"I'd never played her before - but I knew it wasn't going to be easy.
I really prepared myself well, though I was a bit nervous at the
beginning. But once I started to play well I knew I could relax."
 |
|
|
 "Absolutely
knackered!
"I’m just too tired, it’s my ninth day on the trot, and when you play
against Manuela, you’ve got to be at least 100%, she hits the ball
well, she is very fit, and I hope she gets a good draw.
"It’s not so much a physical exhaustion as a mental one. I had an
enormous battle with Orla in the final of the Leinster Open, which I
lost, and that took a lot out of me.
"2I think I’m going to take a day off before flying off to Qatar…"
Laura Mylotte |
|
|
 "Of
course you can talk to me! I’m happy, I just won!
"I’m so pleased, it’s been over a year now after my injury… I’m so
relieved too, the qualifiers are so stressful!
"It was the first time we ever played, and today I tried to cut down
on my errors, I normally make a lot of them during a match. Instead of
taking the first opportunity that presented itself, I took the
second one, or the third one…. I still was a bit nervy in the second,
but I definitely made less errors today."
 "I'd
never played Tricia before, but I knew on that court she would
struggle. I spent most of the summer training in New York with
Damon Brown. And I'm now waiting for my visa to come through so
that I can go back and live there.
"Having the heel injury last year, and being out of action for some
ten months, really affects your ranking. I was 30 before I had the
accident - and now I'm 45 - which makes such a difference in terms
of qualifying for events like this. I'm now aiming for the low 20s,
just as I was a year ago.
"Having the long layoff has made me more aware of the work I need to
do. I'm still not 100% confident of my heel - but, I'm not a size
zero, so I have to be careful."
 |
|
 |
 "In
the first game, I was still asleep! I was not into it at all, and
she came out pretty strong. There was not one area in particular in
which she was causing me trouble, it was more the fact that she
played very consistently.
"I was told between games to keep it simple, play it straight and up
and down the wall, that seemed to cause her the most problems. Still,
she was cutting off very well.
"I played her a few weeks ago in Calgary, but today I think she had
her coach with her, and much more support, so she maybe played
better. Also, it’s always harder to beat somebody twice…
"This is not my ideal court, it’s very bouncy, and you don’t wish a
hard match before the first round of the worlds, but everybody wants
to qualify, so it’s bound to be a battle…"
 |
|
|
 "I
played against Runa four weeks ago, it was the first time, I was not
sure of what I was doing.
"I had a good start today, leading 8/0 then 9/0, but then, she
started to change her game, she was more patient, tighter. She is a
really good player.
"But I think I played better today..."
 |
 |
 "I
knew the match would be tough. But I'm more happy about winning this
because Laura is such a great player, so consistent - she doesn't
make mistakes
"I'm just ecstatic about qualifying for the first time."
 |
|
 "Good
battle, that’s what I like.
"The court is so bouncy, it suits her game much better I think. And
as Louise told me, 'Neither of us was going to give up'…
"At least, I gave it my all…"
 |
|
|
"I’m relieved, definitely relieved…
"The first two games were very one-sided, first for me, then she
seemed to wake up, and started to play a lot better.
"I’m not tired physically, it’s more mentally, because we both wanted
it very badly, and it was a tense match…
"She is very fit, and I had to stop believing that certain of my
shots were going to be winners, as they kept on coming back. Once I
stopped expecting it to be easy, and started to be more patient, it
got better.
"Yes. I’m qualified. At the end of the day, a win is a win…"
 |
|
|
 "In
the first game, I can’t say I was nervous, but I was not relaxed,
and I was hitting out, and wide, and low. Once I settled, it got
better, but it’s a shame in such a close game to give a game away…
"At time, I thought she got tense, and that affected her game
negatively. I was just trying to play the ball.
"I have a full time job, but I have been playing for the Canadian
team since 1996, and encouraged by Canadian Federation, I have
started to play more WISPA tournaments. Also, about three years ago, I
started to play really well, and I was not playing that much, so I
thought, why not go for it…
"I’m so disappointed, I could taste it, and that’s part of the
problem, I know you are not supposed to think about the victory
while playing, but it’s hard to stop yourself. I was so close…"
 |
|
 |
|
|
