R3: [3] Camille Serme (Fra) 3-0 Hollie Naughton (Can) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 (32m)
It is no secret that Camille Serme has been seeing doctors for an injury she had for at least a few months, maybe years she explained at the end of her match against Hollie Naughton today. It was a bit of a niggle she just chose to ignore but after December’s CIB Black Ball, she decided to look into it seriously, and after a few exams it was discovered she was suffering from her right side oblique and also something in her back.
During the PSA Le Havre she went to see the Federation former doctor, Jean Marc Poupel, who treated her with PRP injections in those two places. So the pain seems to have gone, but she had to wait to get back to training, and as she mentioned yesterday in her post match interview to PSA, she was not 100% fit.
And today, I saw it. After a first game where she was in control, I thought she looked a bit more ‘glowing’ than she normally does after a 9m game, that she took 11/5.
The second saw a great start from the Canadian, 3/0, but three errors from the same racquet levelled the score at 3/3. Still, not much between them, Hollie playing excellent squash and taking her chances, asking the good questions by making Camille cover a lot of ground and not giving her much time on the ball: 4/4, 6/6, 7/7; 8/8. But a second wind arriving right on cue for the French Panthère, 11/8 in 11m.
The third is close up to 6/6, with Camille cruising at the end, 11/6 in 9m. Another lefthander awaits…
Hollie: I didn’t string it together the way I wanted to. I think it’s about finding myself more often in that kind of situation for not putting too much pressure on myself when I do. I sort of shake off the pressure when I play the girls up to the top ten, but above that, I seem to put just too much pressure on the result.
There were patches in there where I was doing what I wanted to do. But then, again, I got overexcited…
Camille: “Yesterday, Philippe told me to watch my match because it was pretty good, so I guess today I will believe what the commentators say.
“I had never played Hollie before, so I had to watch a few of her matches to know what to expect. I knew she was a big fighter. She already played five games with two of the strongest girls in the world, in Raneem and Laura. I knew it was going to be tough.
“I am happy to be back in the quarter-finals because last year I lost to Hania I the second round so it is a bonus for me. I am just happy to be back on court and playing the best of the girls here.
“Amanda is a fighter. She is a lefty as well which is good after playing Hollie today. I will talk to Philippe to know what the plan is for tomorrow and then recover from today’s match!”
🗣 "I knew she was a big fighter… she has already played five games with some of the strongest girls in the world."@CamilleSerme is delighted with her evening's work after beating @HollieNaughton at the @BlackBallSquash 🙌 pic.twitter.com/nbeEpgzob2
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) March 15, 2021
