Comeback queen Jenny
denies Omneya
Going into any match, let alone a final, with a 1-10 losing
record against your opponent, on their home patch to boot, is
never likely to do a lot for your confidence.
 And
for the first half of the match Jenny Duncalf looked as if the
weight of that record was going to be too much for the English
second seed.
Not that she was playing that badly, but Omneya Abdel Kawy was
playing sublimely, catching her opponent out time and again with
flick, drops, and especially disguised boasts from the back
which left Jenny floundering.
Omneya blitzed the first, and threatened to do the same in the
second as she went 6-3 up. Jenny played her best squash so far
to get level at 7-all, but Omneya unleashed yet more winners to
go two games up.
At 6-2 to the crowd's favourite the writing was on the wall - a
wall which the Englishwoman was banging with her racket handle
in frustration - "I know how to do it so it doesn't break!" she
admitted afterwards.
The frustration seemed to get her fired up, as she started the
comeback, aided and abetted by some errors from Omneya as her
shots began to miss for the first time. 7-all, 8-all, Jenny took
the last three to pull one back.
 She
was a changed player now, looking sharp, fast and keen, taking a
quick 6-1 lead in the fourth. Omneya wasn't finished though, and
she dug in to reduce the lead to 8-6, then saved three game
balls from 10-7. She never got as far as a match ball, not in
this game at least, as Jenny closed it out to level.
Another quick start for Jenny in the decider, 6-0, and Omneya
was definitely looking tired now. To her credit, she refused to
give in, and again made a comeback, levelling at 7-all.
Now it was a match again, and we went 8-all, 9-all, Omneya
earned herself a solitary match ball at 10-9, couldn't convert,
and Jenny finally clinched it on her first opportunity with a
dropshot that was just too tight (you can watch those final few
points on video shortly).
I had the headline written for Omneya - "Queen of the Nile" -
but Jenny hadn't read that script and all credit to her, showing
great determination and making it two titles in Sharm El Sheikh
in a year.
 "I
didn't think I was doing much wrong in the first game or so, she
was just on fire and all her shots were going in.
"I just needed to dig in, make it as hard as I could for her,
and I managed to get back into the match.
"I though I was going to blow it though, losing that big lead in
the fifth, but thankfully it worked out in the end!"
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"I
played well to start with, but in the third my legs started to
feel really heavy, I don't know what happened.
"I couldn't believe I went for that winner at 10-all in the
fifth. I told myself 'don't do it', but I went for it anyway and
it didn't even hit the front wall!
"She played well though, she was so frustrated up to the third,
then a spark came to her and she played really well after that."
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