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Sat 3rd Jan, Day TWO ...
It's the same again for Day Two, with
all 12 courts in action from 9am. For the U19 events it's the last
sixteen at Abbeydale as the Boys U13 and Girls U15 get under way,
while at Hallamshire the U13 Girls make a start, the U15 Boys
continue and the U17s play the last sixteen.
Sharpes & Hopcroft guarantee English semi-finalist
The Boys U17 event saw two English players upset the seedings to set
up an all-English quarter-final. Charles Sharpes beat 5/8
seed Aditya Jagtap 3/1, while Nicholas Hopcroft deposed 3/4
seed Ziad El Shorafe in a similar scoreline.
33/0 for Yathreb
All sixteen seeds won their first matches in the Girls Under 13,
with match times ranging from 8 to 25 minutes (average 13.6).
Egyptian top seed Adel Yathreb managed a perfect 33/0
scoreline in 8 minutes.
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Day 2 GALLERY
Schedules
&
Draws
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The littlest one ...
 While
some players from Jordan didn't make it (exams apparently, although
it really does cause problems when players don't turn up without
giving any notice), little Mohammed Alsarraj, only just 10
years old, did make it, and made quite an impression.
Fast and accurate, he had too much for Hertfordshire's Laurence
Green, winning in straight games in just 14 minutes.
Next up for Mohammed was 9/16 seed Cheuk Hin Lo, who proved
too big and strong as the Hong Kong player won through in straight
games.
There was one big upset as Wales's Callum Davidson beat
second seed Momin Mehmood for just six points, although the
Pakistani didn't really look like a contender at this level. |
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3/4 seed Kush Kumar (India) on his way into the last 16 |
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Girls
U17 |
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'Liv'
wins a thriller
"When we saw the draw we knew this was going to be such a tough
match," said Peter Blatchford, father of Olivia ('Liv' to her vocal
American supporters) after she had squeezed through a thriller,
14/12 in the fifth against Farah Abdel Meguid.
The Egyptian followers agreed, "that should have been a quarter or
semi final," and how right they were, it was a really good match
that had the packed crowd on Hallamshire's court six on the edge of
their seats.
 The
first two games were shared, Olivia - U15 champion two years ago -
took the third and got a conduct warning for being late back on
court after a toilet break. Farah duly levelled and the scene was
set for a thrilling decider.
A couple of volly drops and a
glued drive took Farah to 5/2, but 'Liv' fought back, levelling at
7-all. A couple of errors took Farah to 10/8 and two match balls.
The Egyptian couldn't believe she got a 'no let' on the first, and
couldn't do anything about the dropshot that saved the second. She
got a similar 'no let' on her third match ball, then another to give
Olivia her first opportunity, and saved it with a drop. 12-all.
Would you believe it, Farah
served out - to Olivia's delight - to set up another American match
ball, then hit the following serve into the tin to Olivia's even
greater delight ... and relief.
It really was a good match, both players and sets of supporters
behaved impeccably, with Olivia smiling away even at the tensest of
moments ... we'll do well to beat this one all week.
Out goes the serve ... return into the tin and it's all over |
Seven Straight
No surprises in the other seven Girls U17 matches, all the seeds
winning in straight games, although Nour El Tayeb, Low Wee Nee and
Yan Xin Tan all needed extra points in at least one game.
Millie Tomlinson is the sole remaining home hope in this category,
and she faces 'Liv' for a place in the semis ...
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Fuller makes the Quarters
The Blatchford/Meguid match - it was 'only' 48 minutes but seemed
much, much longer - meant I missed the bus back to Abbeydale to see
the start of the U19 Boys.
In fact all I did get to see was a sweaty Chris Fuller
emerging from court six - unbeknowns to me he'd just beaten 3/4 seed
Andrew Wagih in four games - and the last game of yesterday's
unknown hero Alfredo Avila.
 The
Mexican is as quick as reported, and poor Sam Van Brusselen must
have put seven or eight dropshots down in that game, he was forced
to try to get them so tight as his opponent was picking up
everything the Belgian could throw at him as Alfredo advanced to the
quarters.
The remaining six seeds all came through safely, although apart from
hot favourtie Shorbagy (a leisurely 22 minutes today) only
Malaysia's Kamran Khan did it straight games.
 "I
played him a couple of years ago and lost easily, but my preparation
has been going well so I thought I had a chance.
"I started well and he got a bit frustrated I think, but I started
to relax which was the best thing to do, my shots started working
really well.
"I'm really pleased obviously, it's probably the best win of my
life.
"I'm playing Ivan Yuen next who's a similar standard, so it will be
the same again, I'll go in as underdog but I'll go in and do my best
again ..."
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Alfredo Alvira
Elvira Bedjai through in U15 |
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Girls U19 |
All Eight Through
The Girls U19 quarter-finals will be as predicted by the seedings,
with comfortable wins for the majority of the top eight.
Top seeds Low Wee Wern and Heba El Torky won for the
loss of 11 and 5 points respectively, while at the other end of the
scale Kimberley Hay had to come from 2/1 down against Milou
Van Der Heijden, taking the fourth on extra points then winning 11/7
in the fifth to secure her place in the quarters. Dipika Pallikal
also needed the full five games to see off Maria Toor Pakay.
In the quarters Low meets Misaki Kobayashi, Laura Gemmell
faces Sarah-Jane Perry, while in the bottom half it's Hay
versus Dipika and El Torky versus Tsz Ling Liu ...
... and we guarantee we'll watch some of those!
Heba's little sister Nouran |
On the bus while these were played, sorry ...
Wee Wern's little sister Wee Nee |
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