SF: Amina clinical in 3 against Olivia

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[8] Amina Orfi (EGY) 3-0 [4] Olivia Weaver (USA) 12-10, 11-9, 11-8 (58m)

Clinical. Cool. Collected. The Lethal 3C.

Seventeen-year-old Amina Orfi showcased the full extent of her squash IQ as she booked her spot in a first-ever Platinum final, defeating Olivia Weaver in straight games — and avenging her Australian Open final loss just three weeks ago.

To be clear, Olivia didn’t do much wrong tonight. But she was up against a young Egyptian with a computer brain — one that clearly logged, analysed, and learned from their last encounter. What emerged was a performance of sublime accuracy, relentless pressure, and a composure beyond her years, yet again. And we are not even suprised anymore. She is that frighteningly good.

The opening game alone was a classic. Twenty-one minutes of high-intensity squash: intelligent, gruelling rallies, impeccable length, volleying, and sharp attacks from both players.

Nothing between them throughout, not a point more between them, except a timid lead from the American at 8/6, only to be caught back 8/8, 9/9. Superb backhand drives quality from both girls, Malcolm Willstrop would have saluted, that tells you the quality. But it’s Amina who edges it on her second game ball, 13-11.

Eleven winners for the Egyptian, eight for the American. One error from Amina, none from Olivia. It was that tight.

The second game marked a turning point. Thanks to a couple of errors and a stroke, plus a couple of winners, the American zooms from 3/5 to 8/5. But incredibly, Olivia will make 4 errors in 5 points, offering a game ball to her opponent, 10/8. The American saves one, but bows to the second, 11/9 in 16m.

With momentum firmly on her side, Orfi surged to a 7-1 lead in the third, then reached 10-4 match ball. But nerves crept in. The American, ever the fighter, clawed her way back to 8-10, saving four match balls with fluid, gutsy squash. Yet Amina stayed composed, sealing the match in 16 minutes with a trademark backhand kill, 11-8.

Tomorrow, she faces world No.1 Nouran Gohar. But for tonight, the moment belongs to Amina Orfi — Platinum finalist, and her parents…

 

Olivia : I made a lot more errors in this match than I did in Australia.

She also defended a bit better than she did then. But when I had the momentum in that second game, it felt like a similar situation to the match in Australia, where I won the game, but I didn’t followed up with plenty of errors then. I closed it out then, I took the advantage of the lead I had in Australia, whereas today, just too many errors in particular in that second game.

Some of them were actually the right shot, but just clipped the tin. And you can’t afford to do that in big matches like this.

She didn’t make many errors, I knew she was going to come out, she just played the big rallies better than I did, didn’t make as many errors. Me clipping three backhand crosscourts out towards the end of that second game, doesn’t usually happen!

But then again, she was putting me under pressure, so a little bit of combination of my tactics, my decision making in those moments, and the game she was playing…

Like any match, I’m gutted. It was a huge opportunity, but all I can do is learn from it, and hopefully, I’ll get a chance to play her again soon and get some revenge.

Amina

“I can’t believe it.

“Yesterday, I had a really tough match and coming into this I knew Olivia was still fresh, she only played like 20 minutes in her last round. I just had to keep going and not give her a chance in the beginning. It was crucial that I went 2-0 up because in Australia, she went 2-1 up and she is so good from in front. So that was important today.

“I started feeling it in my legs from yesterday. I wanted to keep going and move the ball into the back and try to force errors, and thankfully, they came.

“We’ve both had tough matches [her and Gohar], the last three times she’s beaten me, so I’m just going to watch those matches back and see if I can do better.”