El Sherbini and Waters Through to $50K Weymuller Final by Linda Elriani
October 23, 2016
photos Jean Ervasti
Hi Everyone,
Semi finals day is here at the 2016 Carol Weymuller Open. Everyone was
excited to see some more action packed squash and that's certainly what
they got and more!! There are two English players in the semi finals
today so maybe there will be at least one player from England in the
final! (not that I am biased or anything!)
The first semi final of today was between England’s Sarah-Jane Perry
who is world # 11, who played an amazing tactically perfect game
yesterday against Joshna, playing the world #1 and world champion Nour
El Sherbini. Nour has had the best year of her career to date and she
has had so much success especially considering that she is only 20
years old! They have only played twice before, with the last time being
at the US Open in Philadelphia ten days ago, where Nour won in a close
four games. Nour is known for her array of amazing shots and ability to
find the open spaces on the court, but if SJ played the same way as she
did yesterday in the quarters, it would be very interesting to see if
she can derail the world champion.
Nour got off to an amazing start and before we knew it she had a 6-1
lead, which was when she made her first error. This seemed to give SJ
an opening to take some control back and she managed prolong the
rallies, be more patient and contain Nour more in the back. Nour made a
few errors too and SJ managed equalize at 6-6. The points went back and
forth with some wonderful rallies all over the court, but just as Nour
managed to get to a 9-7 lead, SJ kept the pace slower and slotted some
great drops and they were soon both at 10-10. SJ made the crowd laugh
with a couple of cheeky remarks to the ref. This always adds to the
entertainment value as a spectator to see a little bit of humor! Nour
came up with the goods at the vital time with a great backhand drive
down the line past SJ and a perfect backhand volley drop. She squeezed
the first 12/10.
Nour took a 3-1 small lead in the second, but SJ used some great lobs
and drops to move Nour about and control the pace. SJ had one
particular opening with Nour completely out of position and she hit the
tin and SJ shouted “Ahhhhh, you plonker” at the top of her voice
and made the crowd burst into laughter! Maybe this relaxed SJ, but she
then pulled back again and they were equal at 4-4. A push again from
Nour enabled her to take back the control and use the front of the
court really creatively. SJ dug in and yet again managed to equalize
8-8 with a perfect backhand drop and with the help of a backhand drop
from Nour that just chinked the tin. Nour pushed to reapply the
pressure and took the second 11/8.
The second was very similar to the first game, with both players
winning runs of points at a time. With Nour taking control first, then
SJ would come back, give a big push and play some great squash and Nour
would make some errors. Nour would then step on the gas to finish the
game, just when she needed to.
In the third the pattern was different as Nour managed to keep her
focus for the whole game and even though SJ played some amazing and
thoughtful squash, Nour was just too accurate and there was a wonderful
display of what amazing shots Nour can play. At Nour’s match ball it
should have been a stroke to SJ in the front forehand corner, and Nour
dropped down to avoid being hit, but SJ still chose to play it and hit
the ball right into the tin!! This gave Nour the final point to take
the match 12/10, 11/8, 11/4 in 35 minutes.
A happy Nour said “I’m definitely happy to be back in the final again
this year. SJ, I played her last week and won in 4 so I’m pleased to
win in 3. Also the 1st game was important, I always seem to have a
tough first game. I’m looking forward to the final. I played both
players last week so either will be hard and I’m just happy to be back
in the final.”
The second semi final match featured Alison Waters, who won the Carol
Weymuller back in 2014, and is currently ranked #14 in the world,
but she has been as high as world # 4. Her opponent, Camille Serme, is
world #7 from France, but she is very likely to move up in the November
ranking after her magnificent win at the US Open last week where she
took out the world #2 Laura Massaro and world #1 Nour El Sherbini.
Camille was the finalist of the Weymuller back in 2013 so I’m sure that
both players are very keen to get back into the final tomorrow. This is
likely to be fast and furious and with both players having attacking
games and hard hit accurate drives. They both like to volley a lot and
have great retrieving, covering the court well with fantastic foot
work. In the head to heads Camille is 5-4 up in Alison and the last
time they played Camille won a closely fought 3-1. Let’s see what today
brings!
The match started very well with both players playing crisp, tight
squash and having some wonderful rallies using the whole court, front,
back, high, low, side to side. It was very entertaining and fun to
watch and really showed what amazing athletes they both are. The points
evenly back and forth and only Ali got a two point lead twice in the
game at 7-5 and 9-7. At 10-9 game ball to Ali, Camille got a ‘No let’
to give Ali the first 11/9.
What was most impressive abut the first game was that almost all the
rallies ended due to a fantastic shot from each player rather than an
error. They were also very creative with their shot choices and it was
definitely very fun to watch. Ali even won a couple of points with a
shot straight down the middle that Camille couldn’t react quick enough
to.
In the second Ali came out on fire and very soon got an 8-3 lead. Ali
kept the pressure on constantly and Camille had to do a lot of work to
hang in. Suddenly Camille found her groove again and she started
plugging her way back with tight lengths and early volleys. Ali still
managed to get to game ball first at 10-8 but the determined Camille
did not let up and with the help of a back wall nick Camille took the
second 12/10.
It was a HUGE comeback from Camille and Ali must have kicking herself
that she didn’t manage to capitalize on her very large lead to be 2-0
up.
In the third, losing the second so closely didn’t seem to faze Ali and
she soon managed to gain a 7-3 and 9-4 and 10-6 lead with the help of
some unforced errors from her opponent. Camille, as always, was
battling in every rally and with the help of two strokes, she started
another comeback but this time she only got to 10-8 before Ali won her
last very impressive shot of the third game. Camille played a great
forehand drop and Ali practically did the splits while trying to reach
it and fell down in the process but in the process she managed to hit
an amazing forehand drive straight down the wall away from where
Camille was expecting it to be. It was a brilliant get from Ali and
amazing racket control under such pressure. Ali took the third 11/8.
It looked like if Ali could keep this intensity up that she could win
the match, but it’s easier said than done when you are on court with
Camille Serme who is such a wonderful competitor.
The fourth was very similar for Camille as the third was for Ali. She
kept further forward on the court and hit tighter lengths and her
shorts shots were back to being inch perfect. At 8-4 down Ali hit a
winning cross court nick on the return of serve and there was only a
small splattering of claps from the crowd so Ali turned to everyone
with a smile on her face and asked them to cheer and said “That was my
best shot!”. Then of course, everyone gave her a huge cheer! It was
just another display of what great players these girls are and how they
can give a little joke even at the most tense time in a match. Ali
managed to pull back some points but with a stroke to Camille and
almost another back wall nick, Camille took the fourth 11/7.
We knew this match was going to be tough but we didn’t realize just how
tough. What a treat our Casino crowd got this evening to see a match of
this caliber and excitement. Now it was just a matter of who could
stick to their game and make no errors under pressure in the fifth.
Ali came out on fire after her 2 minute break in between games. She
looked fresher again and she managed to dominate the T and take the
ball too early for Camille. Ali took a 3-1 lead and of course Camille
pulled back to 4-3, because she is always fighting for every point. Ali
then turned it on full throttle and went from 4-4 straight through to
10-4 match ball. It was looking like it was all over but again Camille
went into another gear and started another famous comeback! Ali didn’t
do anything wrong but Camille just hit a barrage of amazing shots, with
a wonderful flick from the front and several perfect backhand drives to
get herself from 4-10 to 8-10. You could see Ali starting to feel
a little desperate to win the last point and just when we left thinking
that Camille would maybe pull it off, she hit her shot out of court and
Ali finally went through to take the fifth game 11/8! (11/9, 10/12,
11/8, 7/11, 11/8.)
A very happy and relieved Ali after the match said “ Wooohhhhh! I’m
obviously delighted to have won and backed up yesterdays match. I’m
happy to see the work I have done over the summer came into play. I
felt like I was thinking more about me and controlling the pace and not
just letting her get into her rhythm, which she is so strong at. I’m
looking forward to being in the final tomorrow and I’m really enjoying
being here in Brooklyn”.
Congratulations to both winners who played absolutely amazing squash
and we very much look forward to the final tomorrow between Nour El
Sherbini and Alison Waters at 7.30pm. Please be at the Casino and
seated before 7.30pm. Everyone is so excited to see who will be the
2016 Carol Weymuller Champion. See you then!
Summary of Sunday's semi finals..
2.30pm Nour El Sherbini beat Sarah-Jane Perry 12/10, 11/8, 11/4.(35 min)
