2021 Platinum Reports REPORTS

R2: Black Ball’s Salma through in three

R2: [8] Salma Hany (Egy) 3-0 Nele Gilis (Bel) 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 (39m)

Black Ball’s own Salma Hany gets a great start as she beats Nele Gilis in straight games …

40 minutes match for Nele, losing 3/0. That my friend just doesn’t happen. She is a fighter and never says die. What happened?

Due to the way the women’s draws are worked this season, we had the World #10 playing the World #12 in their first match – how unlucky is that!

First of all, Salma on fire today. If last time the Egyptian played a PSA it was here, on that court, in her homeclub and sponsor, and it was not good. She lost in the first round against Sabrina Sobhy. And she wasn’t happy. Today, she wanted a win.

Also, I don’t think Nele had much match practice since the last PSA. I’m sure she plays with Superman boy friend, I can safely say Salma and Paul do not share much in common squash wise or else for that matter!

And lastly. If you look at the H2H (thanks SquashInfo), those two have been battling together since 2012 the British Juniors. And it’s 7/0 to Salma. I feel Salma was NOT going to lose against Nele, a bit like Peter Nicol never like to lose against Thierry Lincou….

Weirdly enough, I had the feeling that it was the world in reverse. Normally, Nele doesn’t start that well in the game, and gets better as the opponent is getting winded. But today, it was the opposite, and she looked more lost on there at the end of the game whereas she looked in control to begin with.

7/2 up in the opener, Nele was making the rallies very long and Salma was making an error at the end, or opening the court to a counter drop. But 7 points in a row from the Egyptian Glamour Girl, 9/7, 10/8, 11/9 in 17m (10winners for Salma, 6 Nele)

The second sees the Egyptian in control, 11winners for 5 Nele, very few errors (1 for Salma, O Nele). From a good start from the Belgium 3/0, it’s all Salma, 9/5 11/6 in 11m.

Third sees Salma making a few more errors, 4, but still 11 winners, 11/6 in 9m with Nele extremely frustrated and probably feeling she never really got her teeth in the match.

Salma: “I felt pretty good out there to be honest.

“I was very excited for the match, it’s an exciting first round for me. Nele is an amazing athlete and she keeps improving her squash every tournament. I had a game plan and I’m glad I stuck to it. I just had to accept that in some rallies, I’m going to have to run and dig deep but I enjoyed it all the way and really happy I managed to get through in three.

“The hard work continues anyway, I have a plan with my team and a long-term plan. The rankings don’t really matter, you have a process and you stick to it and I just make sure I do the hard work I’m supposed to do and see where it gets me. Every tournament I evaluate with my team and see how I can improve and become the best player I can be.”

Report & Quotes to follow

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