[4] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) 3-0 [8] Farida Mohamed (EGY) 11-4, 11-4, 15-13 (33m)
Gina was probably not looking forward to her encounter with the strong and fast Farida Mohamed. Last time they played in 2025, Gina couldn’t finish the match and retired. Before that, she stayed on two wins against Farida.
To be fair, Farida was not on court in the first two games: 11/4, 11/4 in 7m each game. The rallies were very short, and Farida would play a nick or a tin….
The third saw a more mix squash coming from the Egyptian racquet: varying pace, angles, lifting the ball – she can lob you know – and she showed us some exquisite drop shots and volley drops. Game was on finally and we saw a real fair battel, 5/2, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9.
Farida will have three opportunities to close the game, but it’s Gina that finally ends the fun – after stunning rallies but too many errors from the Egyptian – 15/13, 15m game…
Gina : “I tried my best not to get into a situation where the scoreline was close because then it’s 50-50.
“I didn’t necessarily deserve to win the last game, it was a flip of a coin, but I think I did well to neutralise her in the first two games. If I lost that third then anything could have happened.
“The court is really lively and that helped me a little bit because her shots came back a little bit. She hits it as hard as anyone, I wasn’t able to volley much, but I was able to use her pace to attack. Credit to her, she never gives up and always has a chance of winning no matter the score.
“I started working with Rod [Martin] in the summer and I think there is still a lot of what I’m doing that isn’t necessarily correct. But he really compliments what Ben [Ford] has told me to do as well, so it’s the best of both worlds and I’m able to implement these new changes into my game style.
“Ben is more than my coach, he’s like family to me. He’ll always be in my corner, I’ll always be in his, and it’s so nice to have that relationship. I have to give credit to the England team too, they’ve been doing so much behind the scenes.
“I’m so excited to play with Nour. It’s been amazing watching her do her thing in the last few tournaments. She’s the greatest of all time, to step on court with her is an honour and I’m excited to give it my best shot.”
