Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [7] Salma Hany (EGY) 12-10, 9-11, 11-3, 11-3 (44m)
Fram Reports
A game of two halves. First, Nour a bit unsure of her own squash on their, with Salma looking fluid, moving so well, having lost some weight, she seems much more at her ease movement wise. And as Lee Drew noted, she has a perfect technique! That, she has as well.
Second game, very long as well, 12m, but this time, both are neck to neck from the start, 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9. It’s 11/9 for Salma, who equalises 1 game all.
But from that point on, Salma seemed very tired, especially in the third game, she couldn’t have any say on that one, 6/0, 11/3. And if she seemed a bit stronger at the start of the fourth, from 3/3, Nour was in charge, 11/3 in 5m.
PSA reports
World No.28 and 2019 World Championship finalist Nour El Tayeb overcame Egyptian compatriot and World No.7 Salma Hany in an entertaining match to reach the third round.
Both players looked sharp at the beginning of the match and Hany had a golden opportunity to take a morale-boosting opening game win with two game balls at 10-8.
El Tayeb, however, was able to save both and take the first game 12-10. Hany responded with a hard-fought 11-9 win in the second game to level the match, before El Tayeb blew her opponent away with a dazzling display of accurate hitting, winning the match with a pair of 11-3 wins in the third and fourth games.
Nour
And in the first two games, I had no structure at all. It felt like whatever shot popped into my head, I’d play it. Which is not me. Well maybe when I was 10, 11, until 15, but it didn’t work!
Today, my plan was to lengthen out the rallies, and make her make the error. But I was actually playing something in the middle, thinking it was enough but going for short at the wrong time.
I don’t know why but in the third, I switched and managed to go short now, a bit of hold, because I had been going to the back a lot. And then when I got 5, 6 points, I saw it was working, and I felt more confident.
In the fourth, I was sure she was going to go for it, but I guess we were both very nervous. Neither of us wanted to lose the Worlds in the second round. So much at stake for both of us. But I’m glad, maybe a bit of experience, a little bit of belief, of confidence in the 3rd and 4th, carried me to the win.
[9] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt [20] Danielle Letourneau (CAN) 11-2, 11-4, 11-2 (26m)
In the other two matches, England’s Georgina Kennedy and Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam recorded comprehensive wins, with Kennedy beating Canada’s Danielle Letourneau 3-0 in 26 minutes and Subramaniam beat Egypt’s Nadine Shahin by the same scoreline in 25.
Gina
“I was really happy with that, it’s my first World Championships and I want to go as far as I can. I’m not just here to make up the numbers, I want to see how far I can go and it’s important to win these first few rounds as comfortably as you can.
“I’m really happy with my performance, mentally I was really strong, I wasn’t giving her many opportunities and I was taking it in well. I’ve never played Danielle before, so I knew I had to be on my guard because I’ve watched her.
“I’m so excited to move to the museum, I’ve heard such amazing things and if I do get the chance to play Hania in the next round if she wins today, then British Open champion, World No.3 in Egypt – it’s the best place in the world for squash against such a champion. I’m not just here to give her a good match, I will be going in there to win it.”
[21] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 3-0 [14] Nadine Shahin (EGY) 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 (25m)
Siva
“I’m happy to get through to my third round, it was a close match and Nadine is a really good player, but I’m happy to get through in three games.”
