Les Bleu(e)s Ailleurs: Carol Weymuller & Pittsburgh….

 

Weymuller Finale            SquashSite Coverage

[1] Nouran Gohar (Egy v [2] Nour El Tayeb (Egy)

Demies

[1] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 3-0 [3] Camille Serme          11-8, 11-8, 11-7 (34m)

Quarts de Finale

[3] Camille Serme 3-0 [8] Salma Hany (Egy)            11-5, 11-5, 15-13 (39m)

Le Mot de Philippe Signoret: Camille Serme 7/7 !

La française vient de battre sa 7ème égyptienne d’affilée ce soir à Brooklyn.

Après sa victoire historique au TOC de New-York il y a une dizaine de jours, elle s’est imposée avant hier, au 1er tour du tournoi de Brooklyn, face à l’égyptienne Zeina Mickawy en 3 jeux.

Elle s’est défaite ce soir de la 14ème joueuse mondiale en la personne de Salma Hany. Camille restait sur une défaite face à cette dangereuse joueuse qui avait d’ailleurs éliminé sa compatriote Nour El Tayeb, 4ème joueuse mondiale, à New-York, au dernier Tournoi des Champions !

La Cristolienne a produit un jeu solide, jouant avec beaucoup d’autorité. Les deux premiers jeux ont été brillamment remporté par Camille. Le 3ème et dernier a été plus compliqué, avec un peu trop de croisés et quelques fautes non provoqués.

Mais c’est bien notre N°1 française qui était la plus solide ce soir, et après avoir effacé 3 balles de jeu, elle remporte le match 15/13 au 3ème et dernier jeu, en 39 minutes.

Camille Serme bat Zeina Mickawy 11/5 11/8 12/10 (32 mn)
Camille Serme bat Salma Hany 11/5 11/5 15/13 (39 mn)

Mélissa Alves, de son côté, a été éliminé au second tour après s’être débarrassée de la finlandaise, Soini au tour précédent.
Mais la française aura chèrement défendu ses chances face à Nouran Gohar, N°3 mondiale, en ne cédant qu’en 4 jeux, après avoir pris la 1ère manche !

Second Tour

[1] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 3-1 Melissa Alves               5-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-5 (32m)
[3] Camille Serme  3-0 [9/16] Zeina Mickawy (Egy)      11-5, 11-8, 12-10 (32m)

Les Matches en Streaming

World # 5 Camille Serme, fresh out of her fantastic ToC win, against young and talented Zeina Mickawy, the world #23 from Egypt. Last week at the Tournament of Champions in Grand Central Station Camille had the week of her career, beating the world #1, #2, and #3 all in the same tournament to bring home the Champions trophy. This is also Camille’s 150th PSA tournament since she started on tour back in 2005. Just shows the amount of professional match experience Camille has!

Camille played the first game well, she made a few errors but she stayed forward and took time away from Zeina. Camille took the first 11/5. The second game was more of a battle and when Zeina was more patient it made a difference and squeezed some errors from Camille. There were some errors again from Camille but she played deep and tight enough to stop Zeina from playing her best game and took the second 11/8.

The third was definitely Zeina’s best game and she really stepped up and put the pressure on Camille. Zeina is deceptively fast around the court and reads the game well. She pushed hard to pressure Camille and hit the ball harder with great weight in her length. It’s in these moments that you can see the older and more experienced players pull themselves out of a hole. Camille went 10/7 down, but she pulled out some backhand boast winners, and along with some errors from Zeina, Camille managed to clinch the final game 12/10, playing the most important point really well. Camille won 11/5, 11/8, 12/10.

Camille
“I feel physically really good and mentally good too. I have experienced having a big win and having to play the following week before. The match went pretty well. I was confident in my fitness and getting her attacking shots and kills. I was a bit up and down mentally but I was happy to comeback in the third when I was down.

In the quarters I have to play another Egyptian. It’s my 6th in a row!!! I know it’s going to be a battle and I know I will have to be focused and very precise. I look forward to it.”

This match was between the world #3 and World Open finalist Nouran Gohar from Egypt against her opponent Melissa Alves  #34 in the world. Nouran and Melissa have never played before so it was going to be an interesting clash. Melissa was very excited to have the opportunity to compete against a top 5 player.

This is Nouran’s first appearance at the Carol Weymuller so we were all hungry to see her play, especially after the amazingly successful last year she has had, winning the British Open and the US Open.

The match started fast and furious with both players playing with a very similar game. Melissa was using her power, but also interspersed it with some delicate drops which were working fantastically. Melissa continued to play fearlessly and took advantage an edgy looking Nouran and won the first game 11-5.

In the second Nouran found her groove and she started to control the T and keep Melissa deeper in the court. Melissa started to rush the rallies and she lost some of the patience that she had in the first game and errors started to creep in. Nouran took the second 11-2.

The third and fourth games followed a similar pattern. Nouran kept the pace very high and she also started to use the front of the court more, exposing Melissa’s movement a little. Each time that Melissa dug in and caught up, Nouran would surge forward and find another gear. She was relentless and focused and took the third 11/7 and the fourth 11/5 to secure her spot in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Premier Tour

Mariam Metwally  3-0 [WC] Marie Stephan      11-4, 11-9, 11-6 (27m)
Melissa Alves 3-0 Emilia Soini (Fin)                     11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (23m)

In the first game with Emilia was hitting too many tins and Melissa used her length and kills from the front to capitalize. In the second game Melissa started using more drops and shots keeping Emilia off balance. Third game started with Emilia getting a string of points by sending Melissa the wrong way and varying the pace. At 1/4 down Melissa got her game back and started pushing Emilia deeper in the court and came through to win 3-0 11.6, 11/6, 11/7.

Melissa
“Good! I won! I have played her a couple of times and she has an interesting game. It’s different as she like to lob and slow down the pace. I tried to do the opposite and hit the ball as hard as I could. I played at a pace that would suit me more than her and taking it in short as soon as I could. I am very excited to play Gohar as she is one of the top 10 players that I haven’t played yet. You live for this moment and train so you can play one of the best!”




Pittsburgh Finale            Squashsite coverage

[1] Fares Dessouky 3-0 [2] Saurav Ghosal (Ind)          11-7, 11-4, 11-9 (34m)

Demies

[1] Fares Dessouky 3-1 [4] Gregoire Marche             8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (51m)

Quarts de Finale

[4] Gregoire Marche 3-1 [8] Raphael Kandra (Ger)  11-3, 11-8, 10-12, 11-3 (56m)

Second Tour

[4] Gregoire Marche  3-1 [9/16] Arturo Salazar (Mex)   4-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-6 (37m)