[5] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 3-0 [9] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 11-5, 13-11, 11-3 (38m)
It was a tough day at the office for Tinne today. Last two times they played, Tinne lost, and we have to go back to ’21 to see a Tinne win.
I was quite confident today could be a different outcome. Supported by 15-year-old collaboration coach David Palmer, who happens to know Siva pretty well as he has been coaching her for years before she switched to Greg less than two years ago, with boyfriend and friends around, the Belgium could have felt confident.
But she wasn’t. She was tense, very tense. She tried to slow the pace down and take the weight off the ball in the first game, which didn’t work in her favour, 8m 11/5 to the Malaysian.
A good change of tactic saw a much better game coming from the Belgian racquet. Long rallies, intense, nice movement from both. Great squash, it was all possible for Tinne. From a bad start 1/4, she hold her head high and levelled with the score the whole of the rest of the game. 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 8/8, 9/9.
Unfortunately for here, she couldn’t concretise the two game balls she set up and it’s a tough pill to swallow, 19m hard fought second game, and nothing to show for: down 2/0.
Body language was clear. The Belgian was physically and mentally drained. And Siva fed on that quite nicely, 6/2 11/3 in 6m…
Siva’s quote to come
