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TODAY at the
ATCO Junior Open
Sat 27th, Day TWO: |
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Latest Results
plus day three schedule
Extras #2
Photo Galleries |
Down to Two and down to the
semis ...
We're now down to two venues, with most of
the action at the Stadium while the U13 and
U15 boys continue at the
Zohour Club
(referred to by many as 'the old club'..
After second round matches this morning, all
the events reached the quarter-final stage
from 15.00, when it will all started to make
more sense, while the WISPA girls played two
rounds today ...
DRAWS: Morning
results from the Stadium
WISPA Round One &
Quarters: Sherbiny Shines
Seeds scuppered
in Boys U17 & U15
Seeds safe in
Boys 19
Running Late:
It's been a pretty busy day - the last
four sets of matches were the Girls U15,
U17, U19 and the WISPA quarters. The first
batch was due to start at 19.00, and went on
at 21.00, with the last matches coming off
court after 23.00.
So that's all the reports for today,
lots of photos to process for the gallery,
and we'll see you tomorrow ...
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Over to Zohour
The third of the venues, where the B13, B15
and G13 are taking place, is the Zohour
Club. It's about a kilometre down the road
from the Stadium, and about another halk-kilometre
into the grounds before you get to the
squash courts.
Yes, Zohour is one of those huge multi-sport
clubs that finds favour in Egypt - in Cairo
alone there's also the Gezira, Heliopolis
and Ahly clubs.
 So
while the Zohour's squash facilities may not
be the most modern - four unconditioned
gallery courts and one glassback, all in a
line, it's a lovely setting and the parents,
coaches and players who weren't on court
were enjoying the sunshine outside.
As for the squash - ye, lots of matches,
couldn't see a thing, so no idea what's what
until we get a little further down the line
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Zohour's Squash Courts |
WISPA
Round One:
Draw & Results
Sherbiny shines
as hosts take five
 It was a good day for Egypt in the first
round of the ATCO Miro Classic - but then it
would be, as 12 of the starting 16 hailed
from the host nation - as the local girls
grabbed five quarter-final places.
Top seed Engy Kheirallah had no
trouble in getting past young qualifier
Haida Lala, and she will meet Nour Baghat,
who ousted Milou Van Der Heijden in straight
games.
 A non-Egyptian semi-finalist is guaranteed
though, with Lucie Fialova and
Amanda Sobhy both beating Salmas - Hany
and Nassar respectively.
Qualifier Yathreb Adel produced a big
upset as she beat fifth seed Olivia
Blatchford, the American never looking
properly settled as she lost three close
games. Adel meets compatriot Kanzy El
Defrawy for a place in the semis.
Slovakia's Linda Hruzikova took the
seventh quarter-final place with a
comfortable win over Farah Meguid, and will
face Nour El Sherbiny, who created a
huge upset in beating second seed Heba El
Torky.
 Before the match Nour's coach told me that
she had won their last encounter 17/15 in
the fifth, and that may have been preying on
Heba's mind as she struggled to impose
herself on her young compatriot.
Heba looked at times to be trying too hard,
leading to too many loose balls and strokes
against her, while Nour remained calm and
steady throughout. The youngster took, and
held, leads in the first two games and came
from behind in the third to take the match
with a run of eight unanswered points.
They have six British Junior Open titles
between them, but El Torky, ranked 42 in the
world, has one more (and of course next
month's world juniors in Chennai, where she
is second seed) before she leaves the junior
ranks while El Sherbiny, five years her
junior, is aiming to win five more, and on
today's evidence I'm not betting against it
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Draw & Results
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Boys U15
Quarters:
More carnage ...
The top two seeds are out of the Boys U15 as
well ...
details on the draws ...
Boys U19 Quarters:
Seeds safely
through
No major upsets in this one, with Malaysia's
top seed Ivan Youri benifitting from
an injury to his opponent to go through to
the semis. Youri beat Zahed Sherif 8/11,
11/9, 3/0 rtd and now meets another
Egyptian, Amr Khaled, who beat Islam
El Fiky in straight games.
Second seed Karim Sawy and Ali
Farag make up the Egyptian trio in the
semis, both winning their all-Egyptian
quarters in straight games.
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WISPA
Quarters:
Sherbiny sails on
The best that Egypt's five quarter-finalists
could yield was three places in the semis,
and that's exactly what they achieved as the
upsets continued in the second round of play
in the WISPA event.
Top seed Engy Kheirallah had little
trouble in ending the run of Nour Baghat,
one of the afternoon giant-killers, but at
the other end of the draw there was no
stopping young Sherbiny as the
13-year-old continued to make hay with the
seedings.
Her victim this time was sixth seed Linda
Hruzikova, the Slovakian having little
answer to Sherbiny's power and shotmaking.
 That
wasn't the end of the upsets either, as
another youngster, USA's Amanda Sobhy,
made it a bad day for the Eastern Europeans
as she played a confident, strong game to
oust third seed Lucie Fialova. Sobhy then
went virtually straight back onto court, to
win her U19 quarter-final 13/11 in the
fifth!
Sobhy meets Kheirallah for a place in the
final while Sherbiny meets her slightly
older compatriot Kanzy El Defrawy,
who ended the run of qualifier Yathreb Adel
to set up a repeat of their nailbiting BJO
final earlier in the year.
Nour won that one, just, and looks to have
improved significantly since then, but so
too has Kanzy, one of the star pupils of the
ATCO academy. It should be a good 'un ...
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