R2: Nour steadies the ship 3/1 against Satomi

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[2] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) 3-1 Satomi Watanabe (JPN)  11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5 (43m)

We started the night with a great encounter between Egypt and Japan.
Personally, I enjoy Satomi’s squash A LOT. I love her squash, and I love her passion, her determination. She’s got a few scubbabaoum shots that have nothing to envy to the Egyptians, and she has the accuracy of the English. Lethal combination. And she is a lovely, adorable, caring girl on top!

Her humility when she explained how frustrating it is to play against Nour is so true and real. She is going to be one of the stars of our sport, I bet my (poor) reputation on it.

Sublime start for the Princess, 6/0, but nice determination from Satomi, clawing back to 6/7. Nour is just too confident by that point, 10/6, 11/7 in 10m, 10 winners for Nour, 4 for Satomi.

Reverse that completely in the second, 11/7 for Satomi, 9 winners for Satomi, and only 3 for Nour! 9 minutes games, but interesting to note that the Japanese was up 10/4.

Funnily enough, they both got penalised with stroke twice during the third crucial game, Nour in control at the start, 7/3, 8/4, and this time, it’s Nour up 10/5, only to see Satomi stringing the points, to come back to 8/10, 11/8. More balanced winners in that one, 6 for Satomi, 8 for Nour.

The Egyptian will dominate the last game, 9m, 9/4, and despite an impressive dive from Satomi on the last rally, the Japanese cannot contain Nour and it’s 11/5…

 

Satomi : I don’t know how to describe how FRUSTRATING it is to play against Nour. Well actually, I’m not frustrated by her, but by me, the way I played.

I thought I’ve learned how to play against her, because I played her in Hong Kong and also in the World Teams. I was watching she she played, I studied her.

There was a plan I wanted to play but it was really frustrating me that she wasn’t letting me execute that plan today. It was all credit to her, obviously, that why she is there in what we call the Big Three.

I executed my plan well in the second game, and then I thought, OK, I got it but then, she changed the way she played and I didn’t figure it quick enough, responded quick enough. I did slightly better at the end of the third, but it was too late to get those games, because she was more confident in the 4th, her shots start to go in and the ball became slightly colder.

I thought it would be an advantage for me to keep the same ball and not change it after the third, because I couldn’t control the ball well when it was a bit bouncy at the start. But then my ball started to land short, her shots got sharper.

I found it really hard to respond to her in the third and fourth today, which is… really frustrating, but it’s always a good learning from her.

Nour :  “It’s always tough playing Satomi. She’s an amazing player and she has just entered the top 10 so that shows how good she is,” said ElSherbini.

“We played a few months ago and it was extremely tough as well, but I’m happy with the way I played and happy with the way I came back after losing the second. I’m feeling better on court every match.

“Amina [Orfi (Nour’s QF opponent)] is incredible as well. She has been breaking through everything and she’s the one coming up and definitely another tough match.

“Well definitely having him [Greg Gaultier] here is special, and of course having all my team and squash coaches here watching me is special. We have been working together a lot the last month, we chat between games to try to get the perfect plan to be ready for every game so yes, really happy they are here watching me and supporting me and hopefully we will do well this week.”