R2 : Olivia upsets Nele in women’s second set

16.00 matches 
[8] Salma Hany (Egy) 3-1 Alexandra Fuller (Rsa)       11-13, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 (40m)
[4] Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 3-1 Danielle Letourneau (Can)   5-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-9 (32m)
Olivia Fiechter (Usa) 3-1 [9/16] Nele Gilis (Bel)            3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 (51m)
[2] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 3-0 Zeina Mickawy (Egy)                 11-1, 11-9, 11-1 (27m)

All to seeding as Nouran Gohar, Amanda Sobhy and Salma Hany advance, then Olivia Fiechter takes out Nele Gilis …

Olivia Fiechter (USA) 3-0 Nele Gilis (BEL) 

A very emotional Olivia at the end of the match, she obviously worked very hard for this win…

Olivia : I’m tearing up a little bit… It’s been a long year for everybody. I just worked really really hard for the past six months. I have an awesome team around me, we thought a lot about this match.
The last time I played Nele, I was really disappointed about my match, about how I played. She is obviously so mentally tough and such a great competitor. So I knew I had to bring 110% today.
I’m so pleased I was able to get that win for myself and for my team. I have been doing a lot of work with Danny Massaro, with my coaches Peter Nicol, Graham Williams, Moustafa Bayoumi, we have made sure that every session is mentally so intense, everything is so intentional.

It’s just that day in day out focus on quality, it’s finally coming together. The most important probably, my shot selection, my awareness on court, I’m trying to improve that.

Also, it doesn’t hurt that Olivia Blatchford, Sabrina, Amanda, all moved to Philadelphia, we all train together and play match practice. I think my self-confidence, self-belief out there took a real step up, has really improved.

And that’s exactly what took me through that match.

 

[2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) 3-0 Zeina Mickawy (EGY) 

Nouran: You might look at the score and think that was easy. It wasn’t. Especially mentally after being off. All the players are in the same situation after a month not competing. But after what happened in BlackBall, I wanted to kick off in a good start and forget about it.

It made it extra difficult. You have the nerves of the first match. And then some bad memories. But I thought you know what? It can’t get more difficult, so enjoy it. You are on court right now. I gave it all in the first game, I wanted to show attitude more than anything else: I wanted to prove to myself that I am strong.

I’m glad with the way I delt with it mentally. So obviously if mentally you are ok, your squash will be good, but the reverse is not true.

It’s a bit tricky when you win the first game that easily, cause it cannot get better and the other player gets frustrated so I was trying to keep the same attitude and the same level. At 6/3 up, I thought that was won, I dropped a little bit, but overall, I’m very happy with my performance.

I am playing Siva but even if it had been Tesni, it would have been the same situation. I’m getting off a good win my first round, we are playing on the glasscourt, so she is going to be excited, she’s got really good hands, she is not intimated at all by the top players.

The last time we played was in the world juniors, that was a looooooong time ago!! I have been watching her, but we never had a match or a practice together. So I’m really excited to see how the match will go, and when you have new draws, it’s exciting, as sometimes we play the same players over and over as we are only 32 in the draw. And it’s good how your tactics are working and how you need to evolve with those new players…

[4] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-1 Danielle Letourneau (CAN

Amanda: It took me a little while to adapt, Gouna, jetlag, court condition, pressure…

Funnily enough every time I come to Egypt, Danielle and I have a hit and train together, so this is the first time I arrive in Cairo and I’m oh no, I cannot practice with Danielle because we are playing each other.

I know how much she has improved. Honestly, I’m so happy for her, and how well she is doing, she is one of my best friends. We were the same year in College, so we played each other and now to see how much she’s improved, with that big jump, not many people can do that.

She caught me by surprise, with the travelling, arriving Cairo, next stop Gouna, isolation, the heat, I want to be in the sun but it kinds of drains me so much. So it takes its toll on you. I could really feel it in the lungs, and the legs a bit, and I’m hoping I got it out of my system.

And the day off tomorrow, you’ve got to be prepared for that bubble situation, where you go from high to staying in your room, it’s tough. But we are all on the same boat. And then having to prepare mentally for your match. It’s doubly hard.

It’s so nice to play new blood with Lucy Turmel. I never really watch her play, it’s very nice to play someone new, and it’s nice not to have to play an Egyptian all the time…

[4] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-1 Danielle Letourneau (CAN)

Amanda: It took me a little while to adapt, Gouna, jetlag, court condition, pressure…

Funnily enough every time I come to Egypt, Danielle and I have a hit and train together, so this is the first time I arrive in Cairo and I’m oh no, I cannot practice with Danielle because we are playing each other.

I know how much she has improved. Honestly, I’m so happy for her, and how well she is doing, she is one of my best friends. We were the same year in College, so we played each other and now to see how much she’s improved, with that big jump, not many people can do that.

She caught me by surprise, with the travelling, arriving Cairo, next stop Gouna, isolation, the heat, I want to be in the sun but it kinds of drains me so much. So it takes its toll on you. I could really feel it in the lungs, and the legs a bit, and I’m hoping I got it out of my system.

And the day off tomorrow, you’ve got to be prepared for that bubble situation, where you go from high to staying in your room, it’s tough. But we are all on the same boat. And then having to prepare mentally for your match. It’s doubly hard.

It’s so nice to play new blood with Lucy Turmel. I never really watch her play, it’s very nice to play someone new, and it’s nice not to have to play an Egyptian all the time…