R2: Sarah-Jane Perry 3-1 Cindy Merlo

Sarah Jane : As they say, a win is a win, the rest is irrelevant. I never really found my rhythm today, but that’s what Cindy tries to do to her opponents.

At some point of the season, you are trying to play your best squash, but when it comes to the world championships, that’s out of the window, the only thing that matters is obviously the result. The result comes from how you played, but it doesn’t affect anything outside that match.

Cindy had nothing to lose, she likes to play some shots, she did it very well, and I didn’t hit my targets at all. The ball was quite quick and I was hitting it too hard right into her racquet, giving her some nice opportunities which she grabbed with two hands!

I always say fair play, and to anyone who does that, you’ve got to take it to your opponent, she did that, she wasn’t afraid to play her shots and she is a quality ball striker.

I gave myself a little rocket out of the behind, small one, and I found my targets a little bit better after that but it still wasn’t my best performance ever. I played into her hands completely in the first game, hitting the ball too hard, and she was cutting it off well across the middle. I wasn’t using the front of the court at all or making her move forwards and she’s more than capable of putting balls away across the middle. I tried to give her less of those, I didn’t starve her completely, but I used the front a bit more and that was the difference in the second, third and fourth games.”

Another rest day, off from the normal court to the glass court, I generally love to play on the glass, I haven’t gone to see it yet. I had some good matches in Egypt, got some good memories, big battles, so looking forward to another one in the next round.. I’m looking forward to the next round and I’ll be the one without any pressure on my shoulders.