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Day THREE,
Quarter-Finals
It's
quarter-finals day at Abbeydale and
Hallamshire. Both venues have courts
dedicated to the quarters from 10.00 to
late, so covering both is going to be
impossible.
Chances are we'll stay at Abbeydale to take
advantage of the glass court, with regular
updates from Hallamshire.
Of course there's lots of playoff matches at
all three venues, those results will come
later as the draws are updated.
Over the final two days we'll be using the
blog for results, updates and reports, as
Steve's not available, so to get you in the
swing of things, today's quarter-final
results listing will be posted there.
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Photo
Galleries
Draws & Results
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Quarters Roundup
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Girls U19:
An Egyptian champion is guaranteed, with
Salma Hany stunning second seed Dipika
Pallikal to join Nour El Sherbini and Heba &
Nouran El Torky in the semis ...
Girls U17:
A marvelous performance from Emily
Whitlock, beating Kanzy El Dafrawy in
five over at Hallamshire. She now meets
second seed Amanda Sobhy, and after
double USA success Olivia Blatchford
will meet top seed Nour El Tayeb.
Boys U19:
Defending champion Mohamed El Shorbagy
got off to his customary sluggish start, but
recovered to beat compatriot Ali Farag in
four games.
There will be no English semi-finalist for
the Drysdale Cup after France's Lucas
Serme won a gruelling five-game
encounter with Charles Sharpes.
No upsets in the bottom half as Karim
Abdel Gawad, who pushed Shorbagy so
close last year, won in four, while
Alfredo Avila, the speedy Mexican who
burst onto the scene lasy year, prevailed in
five against Zahed Sherien.
Boys U17:
After beating the top seed yesterday, Islam
Adel couldn't follow it up as he went out
3/1 to fellow Egyptian Mohd Abou El Gar.
He's one of three Egyptians through and
meets Karim Ali Fathi for a place in
the final. Second seed Marwan El Shorbagy
beat Ollie Holland in straight games, and
now meets another Englishman after Declan
James upset 3/4 seed Mahesh Mangoankar
in straight games.
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Heba El
Torky bt Anwesha Reddy
12/10, 11/2, 11/2 (19m)
Heba on a mission
I didn't see the first game, but in the
second and third Heba El Torky was on fire.
If her opponent put the ball to the back
Heba would fire in long dropshots, from the
middle she would put away anything loose,
and at the front she would hammer anything
and everything away.
 It
turned out that Anwesha Reddy took a 7/1
lead in the first, but once Heba had pegged
that back to 8/6 there was no looking back
as Heba dominated with her all-action style.
What was the secret? "I was watching the
previous match, and I didn't have time to
warm up properly ... but I warmed up in the
match!"
In her last BJO Heba is keen to make amends
for her perceived failure in the World
Juniors. On this form you wouldn't bet
against her doing just that ... |
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Nouran El
Torky bt Millie Tomlinson
10/12, 11/3, 11/4, 13/11 (38m)
Nouran dashes home
hopes
Heba's younger sister Nouran joined her in
the semi-finals as she dashed hopes of a
rare English semi-finalist.
Millie Tomlinson started well enough, coming
from 7/3 down to take the first on extra
points, but the younger El Torky got into
her stride in the next two games, moving the
English girl to all corners of the court,
often finishing with a drop to the forehand
corner.
At 6/2 in the fourth it looked all over but
Millie adjusted well, fought back to level
at 8-all, but despite saving three match
balls, in the end it was the Egyptian camp
that was smiling ...
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Salma Hany
bt Dipika Pallikal
11/7, 9/11, 5/11, 11/9, 11/8 n(53m)
Salma stuns Dipika
Well, we have a guaranteed Ehgyptian Girls
U19 champion after Salma Hany joined
Sherbini and the El Torky sisters in the
semis after a stunning victory over second
seed Dipika Pallikal.
 As
a match it wasn't a great spectacle, with
too many short rallies, too many errors, too
many decisions required of the referee, but
as drama it certainly gave the packed
Abbeydale crowd full value.
Salma started well, converting an early lead
in the first, with Dipika getting frustrated
at her opponent's perceived failure to
clear. There were certainly a lot of lets, a
lot of wrapping around each other, and a few
'if looks could kill' exchanges too.
Dipika managed to stay in control enough to
take the next two games, but fell behind
early in the fourth and could never quite
close the gap.
The fifth started badly for the favourite
too, as Salma took a 5/1 advantage which
grew to 8/4. Dipika dug in and worked hard
to claw her way back to parity, then threw
it away with two service returns into the
tin.
Salma only needed one chance, Dipika
clipping the tin with a dropshot, and boy
were the Egyptians happy ...
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It
wasn't to be a third comeback from two games
down for Farah Abdel Meguid, but it wasn't a
third straight-games win for the top seed
Nour El Sherbini either.
