R1: Hana M, Melissa, Aira, Aifa

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16.00 Matches
Hana Moataz (Egy) 3-1 [wc] Nadien Elhammamy (Egy) 11-7, 13-11, 9-11, 14-12 (61m)
Melissa Alves (Fra) 3-0 Cindy Merlo (Sui) 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 (18m)
Aira Azman (Mas) 3-1 Hana Ramadan (Egy) 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10 (58m)
Aifa Azman (Mas) 3-1 Nour Aboulmakarim (Egy) 13-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-8 (41m)

Aifa v Nour 

Well, I hadn’t seen Roy Gingell in action for a while, Boy did I get a chance in the match between Aira and Hana !!

Thank GOD for Roy, who was able today to contain two players who seemed to have problems getting around each other. The no lets/strokes were distributed in the second, settling a bit the mayhem that seemed to want to show its ugly head.

The third game was also very active for Roy, both players getting penalised successively. I feel experience at that level paid off for the Malaysian but it was not a match to remember, for either of them.

Aifa :  “A first win of the year for me! I’m very happy with the progress because I’ve not been playing my best while I was recovering from my knee injury. I’m very glad to win here; I made it into the third round last year so hopefully I can get there or more!

“I’m very happy to win with my sister today. This is her first time in El Gouna and we’ve been having fun here – a lot of fun! I’ve been supporting her, not really giving her advice but just supporting her all the way!”

Aira : “My knee is a bit swollen according to my physio. My physio is here so it should be fine, I’m in good hands. I think she played really well last week against Rowan so I was a bit nervous coming in today, but I had nothing to lose. I’m lower seeded and there was no pressure on me. I just tried to play some good squash and I’m very happy with my performance today.

“Aifa came over right after her win, so I felt much better; I felt the support, and that support meant a lot to me.”

Hana Moataz : Today was not about last week’s event in BlackBall but just about playing a young up and coming player. In the previous tournament, I just wanted to prove to myself, that I can compete with the top players, and that I belong up there as well.

Today, completely different thingy, a young player, very hungry, she has nothing to lose, she’ll play her best and she’ll give it all. I was a bit nervous at times, but I was glad I was able to win at the end.

Tomorrow, back with playing Amina again. I’m excited, as it’s not usual to have the chance to play the same person twice in the space of a week. And it was a pretty big win for me, although she is WAY YOUNGER than I am.

I don’t think there is any pressure on me, the pressure is on her, different court conditions as well. So, excited to give it all again, play my best and see what happens.