R1: Jasmine, Tesni, Katie, Zeina

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13.30 Matches
Jasmine Hutton (Eng) 3-0 Lee Ka Yi (Hkg) 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (26m)
Tesni Murphy (Wal) 3-2 Nicole Bunyan (Can) 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-6 (54m)
Katie Malliff (Eng) 3-2 Tong Tsz-Wing (Hkg) “11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4 (55m)
Zeina Mickawy (Egy) 3-0 Grace Gear (Eng) 11-5, 12-10, 11-6 (28m)

Tesni : “It was good. Nicole and I have played a few practice matches this year, and I’ve hit a bit with her and I know what she’s capable of. It was tough. I didn’t feel like I found my targets around the court, especially in the back which means I didn’t get as many opportunities as I would like in the front.

“All credit to Nicole as well. She was volleying really well and around the middle was really good so I think she put me under some pressure that stopped me playing the way I wanted to.

“I was losing matches like that last season. Sometimes you just have to grind it, find a way to win on the day and I think I did that today and I don’t think I was last season.”

Katie : I’ve been trying to hit the ball a bit harder, to volley more and to bring more intensity to it, especially when you are tired. That’s when you need it most, which is what I think I started to do now.

I felt in the third game, she started to read me better toward the end, she didn’t know where to go in the first two games. But as I said, she really was reading me much quicker!

She started volleying more, getting in front, pinning me on the backhand side wall more; so I had to change my tactic and lifting crosscourt a bit more just to switch it.

I’m very pleased to get that 5th game, and it’s all thanks to Mohamed ElShorbagy. My body language, he told me to pick up my body language, put the shoulders back, to do what Mohamed would do! And it really helped me. He was advising me, volley more, get into those back corners, get in front of her, get a better length especially on those courts, which are very dead, and hit higher, which I started to do

Yes, very pleased with the win today.