[1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 3-0 [7] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 (36m)
As Jasmine explained in her aftermatch chat, she was a bit shocked by Hania’s pace on there. I know that the glass is responding differently as well, most of the players have mentioned it. But as the match went on, the English girl got more and more teeth into it, and was forcing Hania to make a few errors. That doesn’t happen a lot.
The third I think is Jasmine best game, and it’s the longest as well, 10m. Very close in the middle of the game, 4/5, 6/7. Hania did not want to hang about, setting up 4 match balls at 10/6 (she did set up 4 game balls in the previous game actually), but Jasmine responded well and clawed back to 8/10, only to see a lovely Egyptian crosscourt ending in the nick, 11/8 to Hania.
Hania quote to come
Jasmine : After the first game, I really had to change my tactics, she shocked me a bit of the glass, her pace, obviously, I like to play at a good pace. Yes, it shocked me a little bit, I knew I needed to vary a little bit more against her so she wouldn’t end up in that in that one pace rhythm. Which I think I started to do better in the second and third. She made a few errors as well, which is always a plus, but it’s always tough against Hania.
I’ve played her a lot actually this season, more that I should really, and I’m playing her again in two weeks in Gouna. It’s a nice stepping stone to see where I am at, and see what I can do in the next two weeks to get a bit better. But this definitely felt like a better performance than I in the Tournament of Champions a couple of months ago. So definitely pleasing.
Hania
“Although it was a 3-0 win, it was really difficult to play Jasmine. It is always very tight games and I have to be so sharp from the very first point. It’s intense, it’s physical and I feel my breath is a bit loud.
“It has to be tough tough like that against Jaz, to stop her getting into the game and taking a game off me. It’s very tough physically, but I’m very pleased with how I played today.
“I tried as much as I could to stay calm whenever I saw that she was coming back into a game. I just knew I had to stay calm at moments and refocus and get back to my gameplan.
On facing Satomi Watanabe in the semi-finals, she added: I’m definitely going to watch through her match later today. Last time I played against her was in Qatar in September, we haven’t played much so it’s always tricky to play someone like that. We’re going to come up with a good gameplan.”
