[6] Satomi Watanabe (Jpn) 3-1 Lauren Baltayan (Fra) 11-7, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6 (43m)
Trust me to always follow the match that is lasting the longest… It’s a gift…
The games were the same length on average, 9, 10m each. The intensity, the pace, the fluidity of the movement was superb from both.
It was the first time for those two to play, and I hope to see more of them, as we have two different styles of players, one attacking a lot, and the other one, retrieving everything on the planet, doubled with some extraordinary physical bounce!
Lack of consistency maybe for the French/Egyptian in the first game, up 4/1, she couldn’t stop her opponent to score 7 points in a row, 8/4, 10/5. The contender started a comeback at the end, but it was too little, too late, 11/7 to Satomi.
Still, the momentum was now with the French girl, and she blasted her opponent out of the second game to be honest. Her backgame was immaculate, and Satomi couldn’t get to the short shots early enough, 11/4 to Lauren.
The last two were classics, really. Fast pace, intensity from both, committment, flair, guts… One of those matches you don’t want to see ending. But the experience paid off for the Japanese, forcing a few errors out of the racket of her opponent.
Down 10/3 match ball, Lauren never stopped believing in her chances, and managed to make Satomi very nervous! I think she was particularly relieved to clinch it 11/6, with Lauren diving all over the court, bless her…
Lauren
I realise now that I am not a junior anymore.
When I play someone like Satomi, I need to step up and I need to play better than my 100% if I want to beat that kind of players.
I think I should have been more consistent at crucial moments, I had so many ups and downs… When I was leading, I still let her score several points in a row, that’s where I should have been more focused, and stick to my game plan.
It’s one of those matches I’m going to learn a lot from. Now, back to training, to see what I can improve, so much to work on, to come back better…
Satomi
“I think I’m just really relieved to get through today. Obviously she’s up-and-coming and I’ve been watching her, but it was the first time playing against her. I was a bit nervous and I think I did well to win actually because after that second game, I lost quite badly, so I was losing my head a little bit over there.
I tried to calm myself down and be more composed. But Lauren didn’t let me.
She has really lovely kills from both sides, on the backhand and forehand. She can hit it well on the backhand even though it’s quite low on the bounce. I did study her match the day before and I still watch a little bit of the European teams as well.
I thought I played some decent shots, it could be a winner, or a loose ball, but you know how she picks all the balls up, and with interest.
She is so gutsy, and it was definitely a fun battle, which I still enjoyed even I was on the edge.
As you could see in the last few points, although I was match ball up, with still a few points between us, I knew she has the capability to come back from there, so I wanted to close it so much, so badly, to the point I nearly lost my head.
Lauren really has a bright future, someone I will definitely like watching, learning from and analysing.
Squash is a bit of a contact sport, sometimes you can’t really avoid not to have a contact, but we both tried not to have too much, and as litle as possible, we didn’t fish for strokes or let, we played the ball, it was a really clean and fair match…
I think it’s going to be a similar sort of game style [against Abbas]. She picks up the ball really well and she has a really hard-hitting, nice cross-court. But at the same time, she has a lovely boast from the back. I think I’ll go back and study again and make my game plan.
“I used to not have anyone [coach]. Then from the end of last season, I started to have my team behind me. It’s a massive difference. Although I was doing not too badly by myself, it’s really good to have some other views and a third-person perspective. Sometimes if you lose your head or you’ve lost direction, there’s actually someone there that you can trust to guide you for the next couple points and games.
