Day TWO

• ATCO Junior Open 2010 • 25-29 June, Cairo  •  

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TODAY at the ATCO Junior Open
Sat 27th, Day TWO:

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 ...
 

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 ...


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 ..      Draw & Results

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.
 
 

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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Day TWO

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