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The Final, Blow by
Blow
John Cushing reports
1st Match:
Vicky Botwright, bt Engy Kheirallah,
9-3, 8-10, 4-9, 9-7, 9-2 |
Vicky holds on for England
As in her first team match against Annelize Naude of the
Netherlands, Vicky Botwright said
“I knew again I was in the same position as against the Netherlands,
that this was a pressure match, that the expectations were for me to
win the first match against Engy and take the pressure off the team
for their next matches. There was nothing to lose and all to gain by
winning.”
The match went a long 5 games, 77 minutes, as each player hit a
combination of winners, either drops to the corners, passing drives,
or cross court winners. Outside of the first and fifth games in
Botwright’s favour, neither Botwright nor Kheirallah were able to
mount any continuous momentum in the second, third, and fourth games
as they countered each other when one got a point or two in a row,
and were able to win the rally and win a point or two. In the fifth
game it was apparent that Botwright had a definite edge over
Kheirallah, as a combination of winning shots by Botwright, and
unforced errors to the tin by Kheirallah enabled Botwright to win
the fifth game easily and in quick fashion 9-2.
Blow by Blow ...
1st game: At 1-0 for Botwright, Kheirallah hit two straight
shots to the tin, countered by Botwright doing the same, Kheirallah
hit two straight winners, one a boast, then another cross court
drive. Two straight stroke calls against Kheirallah gave Botwright a
5-3 lead. She followed with a cross court drive winner, then
Kheirallah hit a weak shot to the tin for a 7-3 lead. Another drop
winner followed by another drop winner gave Botwright the first game
9-3.
2nd game: Kheirallah hit a great short drive on the left
wall, followed by a drop. Botwright responded with a low hard drive
to the back, then Kheirallah made three unforced errors to the tin
to give Botwright a comfortable 4-1 lead. But Kheirallah responded
with some fine shot making, 3 cross court drops, to tie at 4-4.
Botwright finally reached one of those drops with a cross court
winner, and then kept hitting hard keeping Kheirallah to the back,
and winning 4 straight points with effective winners. After an
exchange of missed opportunities, Kheirallah got one back with a
drop shot winner, then two more cross court winners to bring it to
6-8. Kheirallah tried unsuccessfully another drop, and getting a
stroke call, Botwright hit the tin twice, and the game went to an
extra “Set 2”. Kheirallah hit a tight shot on the left wall which
Botwright could not pick up, to take the lead 9-8. After Kheirallah
hit a winning nick she tried for another winner drop, missing. She
forced Botwright to reach for a drive, which went OUT, and the game
finished with a loose shot by Botwright resulting in a Stroke call
in favour of Kheirallah to tie the match at 1 game all.
3rd game: Botwright missed a close wall shot, then hit an
unforced error in the tin, Kheirallah then hit a winning boast to
take a 3-0 lead. Botwright gain a point with a cross court drive,
and Kheirallah got a point on another well executed right corner
drop. At 4-2, Kheirallah hit good length which Botwright could not
return. Botwright missed a backcourt boast, but Botwright responded
with a side wall nick. Then she hit a ball out, but came back with
another hard drive on the right wall. Kheirallah won the next rally
on a beautiful drop to the right corner, and Botwright just missed
two consecutive drops to the right corner. But she got it back when
she did the same followed by hard winning drive on the right wall.
Kheirallah returned her serve into the tin for a 7-4 lead. After an
exchange of great consecutive drops on the left corner, Kheirallah
reached for Botwright returning cross court lob, and drove a winning
nick on the right side wall. Botwright hit a loose shot which in the
opinion of the referee resulted in a stroke call against her, and
Botwright lost the final point of the game on a back court boast
into the tin, giving Kheirallah the game 9-4 and an one game
advantage going into the fourth game.
4th game: The fourth game started with a quick exchange of
points. At 2-2 all, Botwright earned a stroke when her shot behind
Kheirallah hit Kheriallah’s racket. Another stroke was called in
favour of Kheriallah, but Botwright responded with a hard winning
cross court and a soft boast for a 4-2 lead. Kheirallah hit a
wonderful drop which Botwright could not get above the tin, then
Kheirallah earned two more points with another winning drop shot and
a tight wall shot on the left. A stroke was given to Kheirallah for
a 5-4 lead, but Botwright got it back with a hard winning drive that
Kheirallah could not reach, and an unforced error by Kheriallah to
the tin. A No Let call against Kheirallah, then a soft boast into
the tin by Kheriallah gave Botwright a 7-5 lead. Botwright hit a
loose shot in the centre for a Stroke call, but Kheirallah responded
by an unforced drive in the tin. She compensated in the next rally
with a winning nick, but Botwright did the same. But Botwright
played a loose shot on the left wall for a stroke for Kheirallah,
and then Kheirallah hit another beautiful tight wall shot for a
point to bring the game to 6-7. Botwright got it back in the next
rally, with Kheirallah missing her drop in the tin, and had game
ball at 8-6. But Kheirallah won the next two rallies to bring it
within one point. Botwright hit a great low cross court, and at game
ball, Kheirallah hit a loose shot to the middle of the court
interfering with Botwright’s return and a stroke call was given to
Botwright for the game 9-7. Match now at 2 games all.
5th Game: Botwright started the fifth game with a deep wall
shot that Kheirallah could not return. A combination of 3 unforced
errors to the tin by Kheriallah combined by two nice drop winner on
the left side and a hard cross court winner by Botwright gave
Botwright a quick 6-0 lead. Kheirallah returned a similar winning
drop shot to the left corner, and then Botwright missed a drop shot
in the tin on the left to bring the game to 6-2. Botwright hit a
deep tight wall on the right that Kheirallah could not return,
followed by a drop into the tin gave Botwright a 7-2 lead. Botwright
returned with a winning drop to the left corner, and then closed the
game 9-2 and the match 3-2 with a winning cross court that
Kheirallah could not reach.
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2nd match:
Tania Bailey bt Omneya Abdel Kawy
9-2, 9-2, 2-0 retired |
Bailey wraps it up
Tania Bailey’s mindset at the beginning of this match was “to get
every ball back, and keep the rallies long. Kawy is such a good
racquets player.” Although she could see that Kawy had a bandage
on her right thigh, she disregarded that Kawy may have an injury,
and played as if Kawy was 100% healthy.
Bailey certainly had the upper hand throughout the match. The
first game was played with great intensity, but in the second,
Kawy moved less effectively on the court, moving late to get to
Bailey’s shots especially along the left side wall, and Kawy’s
returns were more defensive, high and soft, rather than the deep
driving wall shots that are needed to keep Bailey moving.
For the first two (and only) rallies of the third game, Kawy
stayed back in the back court when completing her return, and
Bailey just made winning shots to the front part of the court with
Kawy making no effort to go for the shot. Then Kawy went to
Bailey, conceded the game and the match, and shook hands. The
surprised ending gave ENGLAND the tie at 2-0, the WORLD Team
title, and the distinction of now being WORLD CHAMPIONS.
Certainly Kawy showed in her match against Nicol David of Malaysia
in the Semi-Final the day before that she had trouble with her
injury which she developed in an earlier match in the
Championship. She played well in the first game, calling “Set 1”
at 8-8, hoping for a winner to win the game. But David won that
extra point to take the game 9-8. And in the next two games, Kawy
did not make the same effort as in the first game, and David won
easily 9-0,9-0. Afterwards, Kawy did mention about her injury, and
said “I wanted to “nurse” my injury, so that I would be ready for
the Final tomorrow against England”. But unfortunately, her injury
was a definite factor in her lower performance of play and the
outcome of the match.
Nonetheless, Team Egypt were very pleased with their overall
performance, reaching the final for the first time.
Blow by Blow ...
1st game: Kawy hit into the tin on the first rally. After
an exchange of rallies, Bailey hit two winning drives to the back
court, one a hard cross court, the other good length that died in
the corner. On the drops made by Kawy to the left corner, Bailey
played effective cross court lobs to get out of trouble, and move
to a 6-0 lead. Kawy played a beautiful winning boast, but Bailey
gained the serve on a deep good length shot. Kawy missed on a soft
back court boast, then did the same in the next rally. At 0-7,
Bailey missed a short drop shot, and Kawy proceeded to win the
next 2 points. After an exchange of wall nicks, Kawy missed a
short drop in the tin, and could not reach a short shot by Bailey.
Kawy got Bailey out of position for a winning drop, but a loose
shot by Kawy resulted in a stroke call against her, and then
Bailey closed out the game 9-2 on a winning right court drive.
2nd game: Kawy started with a soft drop shot in the tin,
but came back with a winning drive to make it 1-1. Bailey took it
to 3-1, and increased it to 5-1 with a winning drive to the back
right wall. Next rally, Kawy did the same. But Bailey got the next
2 rallies on a soft drop to the left wall, and a reverse boast
that Kawy could not reach. Kawy missed a low shot on the back
wall, and then hit a long drive, the last point of the game, into
the tin for a 2-0 lead in games for Bailey.
3rd game: The third game started with Kawy not even
positioning her to go for an easy shot. After Kawy then hit a long
shot into the tin for a 2-0 lead for Bailey, Kawy conceded the
match to Bailey. Kawy with a bandage over her left thigh, an
injury from a previous match in the Championship, conceded the
third game and the match, unable to move effectively at this high
level of squash
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