R2: [2] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 3-0 Alison Waters (Eng) 11-8, 11-3, 11-4 (32m)
Powerful hitting from Nouran Gohar to despatch Alison Waters and conclude Round Two …
Same tournament, same court, different Nouran.
Last time they played was on that court, last CIB BB in December, Alison had pushed Nouran to the limit, 14/12 in the 5th, nearly 70m game.
At the time, Alison had a pretty simple first round against the wild card, while Nouran had a huge battle with Farida Bazooka Mohamed, five heavy games, was coming back from injury, was having not only her Uni exams but also she just had gotten engaged! Pretty busy week that was for the Terminator.
And you do not take Alison lightly. 36, former WR3, fit as it comes, one of the fairest player out there, a gem of a player, a superb fighter, one of the rare players able to absorb Nouran’s power into lovely feathery volley drop shots, reading her game very well, hence having a lot of time on the ball.#
Over the years – since 2013 – those two had battled 13 times between PSA and World Team Champs. When you think that Nouran is only 23… it’s an incredible stat especially as we had 5 matches where the two girls didn’t play each other at all…#
And today, Nouran was, like Ali stated it clearly on fire. Two errors in the first game for the former world number one, and that was it. Khalas. 8 winners in the opener, 10 winners in the next two.
A good respectful atmosphere on court, but one of those matches you can only salute and comment: too good.
Alison : Nouran was on fire today. Last time we played she made much more errors, whereas today, I don’t think she missed one single kills and played some amazing shots as well.
I didn’t have much attacking options, all credit to her, I couldn’t really get into it.
Nouran: “Getting Alison first round isn’t easy at all, it’s one of the toughest draws you can get,”
“She’s one of the most experienced players on tour right now. We had such a battle on the same court in December – this scenario never happens when you play the next tournament on the same court against the same player!
“It could have gone either way last match, so I was really careful from the beginning. Last time the crowd was very tense and they had a heart attack I think, so I didn’t want to do the same to them today.
“I’m just enjoying myself. I came to this tournament really enjoying it, I love playing on the court. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the best conditions – one time I was injured and the next timeI wasn’t on form. I’m trying to play my best and enjoy every match because I’ve seen what it feels like not competing for three months and all the players as well. I’m really appreciating my time on court and play each point as if it was the last one.
“I have no rest days but I’ll try to deal with it.”
🗣 "Getting Alison in the first round is one of the toughest draws you can get!"@NouranGohar navigated a banana skin @BlackBallSquash opener to reach the last 16 – reaction from the World No.2 right here 🎤 pic.twitter.com/38W5TI1eAF
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) March 14, 2021