Zeina Mickawy (EGY) 3-0 Alicia Mead (ENG) 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 (30m)
A very entertaining match, clean movement from both players. Zeina, after a long time going from injury to injury, seems to be back in great shape and form.
Coached by the legendary Egyptian coach Ahmed Shohayeb (Alexandria), she was moving extremely well and bombarded the English Alicia Mead the whole match. To her credit, Alicia dislayed superb athletics abilities as usual! The lefthander is strong at the back, and finds some lovely attacks whenever the opportunity occurs. Just a little belief, a bit of handling the end of the games better.
First two games went to 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, Alicia losing a bit of focus after a harsh stroke against her it seems, bowing 11/7 in 8m. A superb second game, all the way to 8/8, 9/9, hammering from Zeina that eventually got the better of the English player, 11/9 in 9m.
The third saw the Egyptian relaxing a bit, allowing a good run of points, 5, for Alicia. But not wanting to be pulled into a physical encounter, Zeina gave it a last big push of adrenalin and power that paid off, 11/7…
Zeina
Alicia kept me on my toes all the time, she is a very dangerous player, she had a few good wins, and I knew I had to keep pushing as she is extremely physical. And if I knew she would take advantage of any opportunities I would offer her! I’m very happy I managed to win in three.
I feel that I was losing the pleasure to play squash, I started to have enough and I had to rethink the way I was looking at my career. I had to find a way to enjoy my game again, and I started focusing on that, even in training, even when I was not at my best, and stopping putting too much pressure on myself.
The level on the Tour is such at the moment, all the players are so good, and anybody can beat anybody. And I had to accept that and understand that.
I’m working with Ahmed Shohayeb, Mohamed el Tarabolsy and Mike Burns to improve my movement and fitness and I’m grateful for their help.
I still have a chronic injury but I learned to play and live with it. All the players have a little something they’ve got to look after and play with. Just get on with it.
So happy to finally play at home, I have my mum, my fiancé, my coach, my friends… everybody is here to support me and that is a great feeling…
