R1: Danielle Letourneau (Can) 3-0 Jasmine Hutton (Eng) 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 (28m)
A strong performance from the Canadian who now trains with Karim Ali Fathy here in Egypt. She has worked pretty hard on her game and was able to contain the extremely talented young 21 years old English prospect.
I was expecting a tough encounter more of a 5 setter than a clear 3/0 to be honest, as I know how powerful Jasmine can be.
But today, Danielle contained the youngster pretty well, on the traditional court, game length 9m, 8m, 7m, although Danielle did herself a bit of a scare as she was up 9/0 10/1 match ball, when Jasmine decided to play her best squash, letting the arm go and clawing back to 7/10…
Danielle
I had a pretty nervous start in both the first and second game. I know that she is an up and coming player, I have a lot of respect for her, and that if she’s got time on the ball, she is very dangerous.
But I told myself that I had done the work, that I could do the job, that I was playing well at the moment, and I managed to settle down.
I had a strong start in the third, hitting my targets, and I think at that point she just relaxed, had nothing to lose and played some amazing shots. And when you are trying to close the match down, you sometimes go for shots that are just not there and rush things a bit…