[8] Olivia Weaver (USA) 3-1 [10] Salma Hany (EGY) 11-9, 11-5, 11-9 (48m)
Next Opponent: Fayrouz Aboelkheir
USA’s Olivia Weaver put in a strong performance at Palm Hills to overcome Egypt’s World No.13 Salma Hany as she booked her spot in the quarter-finals of the CIB PSA World Championships for the first time. It was the pair’s third meeting on the PSA Tour, with Hany coming into the match boasting a 2-1 lead in their head-to-head record, although the American did win their last match at the U.S. Open last October.
The opening game was a back-and-forth affair. It was highly competitive, and neither player was able to pull away. Weaver was ultimately able to hit her marks more often, particularly on the backhand side, and that was enough to see her sneak it 11-9.
The second game was more dominant from Weaver as she hunted the volley more and piled the pressure on Hany and she enjoyed a bit more breathing space as she held her opponent off to win it 11-5.
Weaver looked set to take the third game comfortably as she powered into a 5-0 lead, but a break in play as a result of Hany getting caught in the head with Weaver’s racket halted her flow and the Egyptian raced back to take seven straight points after she returned to court after treatment.
Weaver was able to stop Hany in her tracks though and closed it out by an 11-9 margin to set up a last eight clash with World No.19 Fayrouz Aboelkheir.
Olivia : “I was happy with my consistency up to this point and was hoping to keep that going.
“Salma is such a dangerous opponent and it was going to be extremely tough out there. I needed to not focus on that and needed to focus on putting the ball where I needed to be and focus on my game plan.
“It was surprisingly breezy in the warm-up, there’s definitely some wind out there. It wasn’t too cold, we were having some long rallies and the ball didn’t go off too quickly. It went off a bit in the third, but after the injury break we heated it back up.
“I thought the court was enjoyable, I played on it in El Gouna and I felt that getting some reps in there helped get me prepared. We’ve all played on glass courts at this point and I think we’re all used to adjusting and finding our adjustments as we go.
“I’ve never played Fayrouz. I’m going to enjoy this one, making it into the quarters for the first time and starting tomorrow I’ll have a rest day and then I’ll get back to work and continue preparing for the next round.”
