R3 : Sherbini 3-1 Abbas

Posted on by

[1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) 3-1 Nada Abbas (EGY) 4-11, 11-4, 13-11, 11-6 (46m)

An incredible performance from Nada today. She took Nour to the throat and really didn’t let the world number one breathe for the rest of the game, raffling Nour’s feathers quite a lot!

The audience was stunned when Nada kept stringing points in the opener, taking it in 8m! Nour woke up nicely in the second, levelling quickly 11/4 in 7m.

And we thought that’s the end of it.

Yeah right. It wasn’t. Nada was not a flash in the pan, and let 9/4 in the third, playing superb exquisite squash, delicate and feathery. Encouraged by her camp – Greg going “Allez Nour, come on”, Omar her brother “Yalla Yalla” – Nour clawed back to 9/9, game ball 10/9, but needed 3 game balls to finally clinch that crucial game, 13/11 in 16m.

Nour was now fully confident, and her squash became irretrievable, even for Nada on Fire today! A last 8m game, 7/3, 8/4, 11/6.

Let me tell you there was a big sigh of relief in the Sherbini camp as the music came on..

Nada

I haven’t changed coach, I’m still with Haitham Effat, but I have now added Captain Hesham Attar to the team, and I think this combination is helping me to understand the game better, to open my mind more to how I should play those top players. Sometimes, I need to adapt my game and tactics to who I am playing, as they are top players for a reason. So I’m glad I’m having the right team with me.

Last two times I played Nour, it was over very quickly, it didn’t get to the 20m barrier! But today, I was just trying to make her play one more shot and if I had to lose 3/0, I wanted to have learned something from the match. In the third, I think I just overthought things a little bit….

It’s never enough against those players. I should have reacted better in certain phases of the match. So I’ll definitely watch the match again and see what I can learn from it, and improve.

Nour

“I was thinking about the court and what I should do. I’m a very slow starter and take my time, so playing a tricky opponent as well sometimes can turn [your plans] over.

It was tricking in the first and third games. I need to adjust faster.

There’s no [injury], I think I’m moving fine. It’s partly moving from the traditional courts as well, I’m trying to spend more time on court before playing a match but I didn’t have a lot of time before and it’s been a long time since I played an outdoor event which may be a factor but I’m sure next time I’m going to be better!

“Between games [coach Gregory Gaultier] was trying to activate me and getting me fired up a little more, to be faster and more aggressive. I think I needed to be more aggressive I was a bit softer today at some points but at the crucial points I was good.

“I’m lucky to have both of my coaches today, it’s very rare to see them together.”