Madrid Women's World Open Squash 2007

MARTIN BRONSTEIN REPORTING FROM THE PALESTRE CLUB, MADRID
FIRST ROUND OCTOBER 24

BAILEY GETS LAST GASP VICTORY

I’ve said before that Tania Bailey is a tough cookie, winning the world junior title with acute food poisoning, being sidelined for two years with a myserious bug and various other injuries. She has overcome all this to rise again to world number four, but today, the cruel fates tried to exact a little more satisfaction by cutting off her breathing in the third game. She has suffered from sinusitis for years and it struck again today.

She was playing very indeed against Jaclyn Hawkes, mixing up the game, going short with confidence and showing some lovely touches all over the court. Her many years in squash are paying off and she is showing some welcome invention. Her performance was good enough to overwhelm Jaclyn Hawkes in the first two games, 9-4 and 9-1. It looked all over bar the shouting but suddenly in the third game, leading 3-0, Bailey’s game changed and she was going short too quickly as well as going for winners off the serve. It was as though a different player had taken her place: she was obviously in difficulties and Hawkes was now getting everything back. From 0-3, Hawkes worked her way to an 8-3 lead. Bailey was becoming more distressed, but she refused to give up and made one huge effort to save the game and get off in three. She won three point in succession and was looking good to win the game, but one more error gave Hawkes her ninth point and Bailey threw her racket down in frustration.

During the intermission she looked very distraught, her head in her hands as she told the England coaches what her problem was. Things look black but she came back, her toughness once more put to use and she took the lead at 5-4. Hawkes knew that if she could hang in long enough she could probably bring off a real upset victory. She did this very successfully to get to game ball at 8-6, but still Bailey kept fighting, moving well and avoiding silly errors. It was good enough to pull her back to 8-8 only to find herself facing game ball again. She continued to match ball but an error put Jaclyn at game ball yet again. Bailey hit a fine forehand cross court with sufficient width to elude Hawkes and Bailey once more at match ball. This time luck was with her as a mishit off the wall dropped for a winner, a welcome end after 69 emotional minutes.

It was ten minutes before she was able to speak to the press saying that this infection had been part of her life.

“Off court I felt alright, but the infection kicked in after the second game and I couldn’t breathe. My arm and leg were dead because they weren’t getting oxygen. I tried to slow it down but she was playing better and getting everything back,” she explained. Had she had any treatment?

“I’m on antibiotics now; I’ve had three operations, laser treatement, hypnotherapy – you name it,” she said with a resigned smile.

Sometimes you have to say that life is just not fair.

OMNEYA WINS, RANEEM LOSES

Egypt’s two world junior champions, Omney Abdel Kawy and Raneem El Weleily, were playing on adjacent courts, with mixed results. El Weleily ranked 23, almost brought off an upset against Annelize Naude of the Netherlands, who is ranked 17. Naude was playing as well as ever I’ve seen her and was also more in control of emotions than usual. She was more than a match for Weleily’s touch in the first two games which she won 9-3 , 9-4 in 22 minutes, but the reigning world junior really got her wonderful racket working in the third game to hit delicious winners with ease. For an eighteen-year old she walks the court with great maturity and nothing seems to intimidate her. Although Naude was playing well she was unable to handle this sort of racket magic and Weleily pulled even, winning the third and fourth games 9-7 and 9-5. She seemed to lose the magic touch in the fifth whole Naude kept to her near error-free game which, finally, carried the day as she took the game 9-3. It was a fine match with a very high standard of squash and yet proof again that young El Weleily is a star of the very near future.

Her elder compatriot Omneya Abdel Kawy world number seven, had an easier time over qualifier Orla Noom. Kawy is another sublime Egyptian talent and it is still a pleasure, after all these years to be able to watch her. Effortless court coverage, surprising shot selection and wonderful racket control. She makes it looks not only easy but effortless. She won in straight games and moves effortlessly into the second round.

DAVID LOOKING GOOD TO DEFEND TITLE

Nicol David, now sporting flaming red hair, started the defense of her title with a 3/0 victory over French number one Isabelle Stoehr. The first game did not really point up the difference between the world number one and the world number 20 with Stoehr giving a good account of herself , pushing David to an 18 minute tussle, which, although it ended 9-7 in the champion’s favour, was a good almost even fight. In the second game things changed with Stoehr making a series of errors to give the game to David 9-3. Meanwhile David was loose on many of her shots and the rallies that Stoehr did win were through volleying some very loose width cross courts. On the down-the-wall rallies, Stoehr was tighter and more precise. The difference was the error count and this continued into the third, a six minute game that found the Frenchwoman without a point.

David tends to take time to warm up and she will certainly need to tighten her game against Shelley Kitchen, the New Zealand number one who is ranked just outside the top ten. She was positive and precise in beating England’s Lauren Briggs in straight games. Briggs has played better than this and from her body language she seemed a little overawed by the occasion. There were many good, fast paced rallies and the better player, as usual, just maintained her level from start to finish of the three games. Briggs seemed too anxious on some rallies, to give the point up. Maybe it was the pressure that Kitchen produced. It will be interesting to see if she can continue her almost error-free ways tomorrow against the world champion.

EASY STREET

Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands had the easy task when she played local wild card Alicia Alvarez Riaza. Atkinson lost one point in the 17 minute match and will face Kasey Brown, a qualifier, in the in the second round. Natalie Grainger of the US also had a smooth passage into the second round in beating Mexico’s Samantha Teran also in straight games. Grainger will now face Egypt’s Engy Kheirallah, victor over Canada’s Runa Reta in three games.

So, the first round ended with no real battles or upsets and I have a feeling that the second round, also to be played at the Palestra club, could follow the same route. We shall have to wait for the quarters on Thursday, on the glass court, to get into some blood and guts.

INCIDENTAL INTELLIGENCE
El Greco, is regarded as a great painter, but his grasp of anatomy is very poor. His proportions are well out and compared to Goya, Valesquez and Rubens, El Greco was a first-grader when it came to the human body. This great revelation came to me while I was in the huge Prado Museum this morning. A morning well spent.

Madrid is a magnificently noble city with huge boulevards with tree-lined walks on the side and in the middle. The Metro is sparkling clean, not a piece of litter to be seen anywhere and as cheap as you can imagine. When I spoke of my lengthy journey from the airport, which included four changes, I may have given the wrong impression. I was given bad advice. I could have reached my hotel with just two changes. But it was still a long journey. Now, however I am an expert on the Madrid Metro system with its 12 different lines, all numbered and colour coded. If you are going to Madrid anytime, just call me.

FIRST ROUND RESULTS
[1]Nicol David (MAS) bt Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) 9-7, 9-3, 9-0 (39mins)
[10] Shelley Kitchen (NZ) bt [Q] Lauren Briggs (ENG) 9-2, 9-4, 9-2 (35mins)
[5] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt Samantha Teran (MEX) 9-6, 9-0, 9-3 (36 mins)
[13] Engy Kheirallah (EGY) bt [Q]Runa Reta (CAN) 9-3, 9-4, 9-3 (34mins)
[3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [Q] Louise Crome (NZ) 9-3, 10-8, 9-5 (34mins)
[12] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [Q] Suzie Pierrepoint (ENG) 9-0, 9-3, 9-3 (28mins)
[6] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt Sharon Wee (MAS) 9-2, 9-5, 9-2 (26mins)
[9] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt Latasha Khan (USA) 6-9, 9-3, 9-1, 9-0 (56mins)
[8] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt Alicia AlvarezRiaza (ESP) 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 (17mins)
[11] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG) bt [Q] Manuela Manetta 9-4 9-3 9-7 (45m)
[15] Kasey Brown (AUS) bt [Q] Aisling Blake (IRE) 9-2, 9-6, 9-2 (55 mins)
[4] Tania Bailey(ENG) bt Jaclyn Hawkes (NZ) 9-4, 9-1, 6-9, 10-9 (69mins)
[16] Annelize Naude (NED) bt Raneem el Weleily (EGY) 9-3, 9-4, 7-9, 5-9, 9-3 (64mins)
[7] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [Q] Orla Noom (NED) 9-4, 9-2, 9-3 (27mins)
[14] Rebecca Chiu (HK) bt [Q] Line Hansen (DEN) 9-5, 9-6, 9-2 (47mins)
[2] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt Dominique Lloyd Wright (ENG) 9-3, 9-6, 9-5 (43 mins)

NEW ... Get the New Jonathon Power Instruction Video at the SquashTalk eStore!