2020 Womens Gold Reports REPORTS

R1: Nele powers through in three

R1 : [11] Nele Gilis (Bel) 3-0 Nada Abbas (Egy) 13-11, 11-6, 11-5 (38m)

Interesting stats as they played 4 times, and if Nele won the first two encounters it was Nada that one twice in 2018. Needless to say the young Egyptian, 20, got on court full of confidence and fearless….

Very close first game, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9. First blood to Nada, 10/9, a second chance at 11/10 at the end of ridiculously fast pace rallies – Nada trying to keep the pace as high as possible, while Nele was lifting the ball to slow it down – but it’s the Belgium WR12 that takes a crucial 18m first game, 13/11.

The Egyptian cut down on the errors in the second – 5 unforced errors in the 1st, 3 in the second, same for Nele, 2 errors in the opener, 0 in the second. But the errors for the Egyptian came at the wrong moment, she was up 3/0, caught up 3/3, 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, but got maybe a bit tired from the hard work Nele was making her do, and it’s 11/6 in 8m, those 3 errors after 6/6….

The third was more onesided from mid game, although a good start for Nada, 2/0, but from 5/5, it was all about Nele pushing her opponent to make the error, and it’s 11/5 in still 10m hard work for both.

Nele

“I didn’t realise the first game was that long,”

“To be honest, I felt a little unsettled on there. At the start I was a bit nervous, but I tried to make it as physical as possible because I knew she would get tired quicker than me. We don’t get a lot of opportunities to play, so I just tried to enjoy every minute of it.

“I tried to take the pace off and not get into a hard-hitting battle with her because I was never going to win that. I tried to use lobs and height and get her stuck behind me.”