R2: Hania 3-0 Salma

[1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 3-0 Salma Eltayeb (EGY) Β 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 (27m)

When I spoke with Salma yesterday, she explained that she was initially meant to play Nour El Sherbini, and had decided to relax and enjoy the moment. Well, she had a draw changed, and instead of the World number 2, she got to play the World number 3… sigh.

 

And I know the score doesn’t shout “good performance” but the young Egyptian – 21 – was very strong on the court today I felt, especially in the 3rd. She was able to force Hania out of her comfort zone a few times, and got a nice string of points, 3/3, 4/4, 7/4 to Salma.

Hania’s experience allowed her to immediately react and amend her pace and position on the court, she stepped up and pushed her young opponent to the back more, making the court much bigger, scorin the next 7 points, 11/7 for Hania, 3/0.

Salma :Β As I told you yesterday, my aim today was to do better than I did in Qatar but if I feel that she improved her squash since Qatar! Her squash quality has gone much better than it did in Qatar, and she already had the good physique, so both combined are so deadly.

I tried to keep up today with the quality, with the pace and everything, and when I had the confidence to take it short, my quality was good, but when I didn’t have that confidence in my shot, it would bounced in the middle of the court, and she would actually freak me off!

Hania : β€œIt’s tough playing against Salma. Whenever you leave a loose shot in the middle, she just goes for it. I just had to be very accurate and even in the third when it was tight, I had to kind of scream inside to wake myself up. But, yeah, it was good overall.

β€œIt’s a competition and all of the players have proven that they get better with each event, so I had to change my mindset. To see Gohar pulling out first, and then El Sherbini afterwards, it was a bit weird. But it doesn’t really matter. There are so many players coming at us who are ready for a battle.

β€œIf you want to win an event, you either have to do it with Gohar and El Sherbini in it, or without them in it.”

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