02/10/2011
ALEXANDRIA OPEN 2011
Revenge For Sherbini In Alexandria
Alexandria
International Open 2011
Egypt 23-28 September,
$20.000 |
Round One
25 Sep |
Quarters
26
Sep |
Semis
27 Sep |
Final
28 Sep |
[1] Nour El Tayeb (Egy)
11/5, 11/8, 11/8
Emily Whitlock (Eng) |
Nour El Tayeb
12/10, 7/11, 7/11, 11/5 11/5
Lauren Briggs |
Nour El Tayeb
1/8 11/5 11/6
Line Hansen |
Nour El Tayeb
11/5 11/8 7/11 11/7
Nour El Sherbini |
[7] Lucie Fialova (Cze)
11/5, 11/5, 11/5
Lauren Briggs (Eng) |
[3] Line Hansen (Den)
11/8, 11/8, 11/7
Sina Wall (Ger) |
Line Hansen
13/11, 13/11, 12/10
Nouran El Torky |
[8] Gaby Huber (Sui)
16/14, 11/6, 11/6
Nouran El Torky (Egy) |
[Q] Farah Abdel Meguid (Egy)
9/11, 11/7, 11/2, 9/11, 11/9
[6] Kanzy El Dafrawy (Egy) |
Kanzy El Dafrawy
12/10, 11/7, 15/13
Yathreb Adel |
Kanzy El Dafrawy
11/8
7/11 11/9 11/3
Nour El Sherbini |
[Q] Yathreb Adel (Egy)
111/4, 11/7, 6/11, 11/7
[4] Heba El Torky (Egy) |
[Q] Salma Hany (Egy)
11/2, 11/6, 11/8
[5] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) |
Nour El Sherbini
11/8, 11/8, 11/3
Aisling Blake |
[Q] Nouran Ahmed Gohar (Egy)
11/9, 11/6, 11/9
[2] Aisling Blake (Irl) |
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Revenge For Sherbini In Alexandria
Nour El Sherbini collected her 2nd WISPA title this week at the Silver 20
Alexandria Open, beating compatriot and top seed Nour El Tayeb in the final.
The pair had previously met in July’s Women’s Junior World’s Final in Boston,
where Tayeb won the final in 4 games; this time however it was Sherbini who
emerged victorious in 4 games.
The 15 year old had not played a WISPA event all year due to a serious knee
operation and it was remarkable in itself that she managed to return at the
World Junior’s in July and make the final!
Sherbini started strongly in the first round beating Salma Hany in straight
games. There were also straight game wins for Tayeb over Emily Whitlock, 2nd
seed Aisling Blake over Nouran Ahmed Gohar and 3rd seed Line Hansen
over German no.1 Sina Wall. The last seed to make it through to the quarter
finals was Kanzy El Dafrawy. The 6th seed survived a marathon match,
beating compatriot Farah Abdel Meguid 11/9 in the 5th.
The remaining 3 matches all featured upsets. Lauren Briggs eased passed 7th
seed Lucie Fialova. Nouran El Torky won a tight opener against 8th
seed Gaby Huber before coming through in straight games. Nouran’s elder sister,
Heba wasn’t so fortunate. The 4th seed was stunned in 4 games by 15
year old Yathreb Adel.
Sherbini continued to perform strongly in the quarter finals. The first 2 games
were close with Blake but the 2nd seed couldn’t live with the pace of
Sherbini in the third and her resistance faded. Top seed Tayeb had to come
through a battle to reach the semi finals. She found herself 2-1 down against
Briggs, a former top 20 player, but managed to come through in the 5th after
some incredibly long and hard fought rallies. The last two quarter finals were
won in straight games but both could have gone either way. Hansen had to win 3
tie breaks to beat Nouran El Torky while El Dafrawy had to save game balls in
both the 1st and 3rd games against Adel.
Tayeb had the easier time of it in her semi final. After her tough previous
round match Tayeb had too much variety for Hansen and won comfortably in
straight games. It was Sherbini and Dafrawy’s first meeting on the WISPA tour
and there was nothing between them in the first 3 games, but it was Sherbini who
found herself 2-1 up. As she did against Blake, Sherbini increased the pace in
the 4th and she broke away to move into the final.
The final between the World’s two top juniors was set and their previous records
against each other meant that the match could go either way. This time thought
it was Sherbini who had the upper hand. Despite Tayeb taking the 3rd
game, Sherbini was in control for the most part of the match and managed to gain
revenge for her World Junior final defeat by Tayeb.
It is a welcome return to the tour for Sherbini, who will no doubt move up the
rankings in the next few months.
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