AMSTERDAM: Omneya Abdel-Kawy, who led her country to its most sensational squash triumph nine months ago, made a good start to her bid to become the first Egyptian woman in the world s top five by the end of this week.
Winning the world team title has helped us all and we re all really hoping to push up in the rankings, said Abdel-Kawy after beating her compatriot Nour El-Tayeb, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4 in the first round of the World Open.
Abdel-Kawy, who beat world number five Jenny Duncalf when Egypt overcame titleholders England in a thrilling world final in Cairo, could make the top five herself with a good run here and showed steady temperament in overcoming the third game revival by her 16-year-old compatriot.
During that phase Abdel-Kawy humorously greeted one questionable refereeing decision by putting her racket between her teeth, and also dealt equably with an opponent who dived distractingly about the court, once tumbling between Abdel-Kawy’s legs.
However the 24-year-old sixth seed from Giza moved the ball about much more accurately in the fourth game, acquiring three penalty points by forcing mistimed strokes from the otherwise impressively improving Tayeb.
It s difficult playing her because you never know quite what to expect, said Abdel-Kawy. I m playing to a top five standard and I m hungry to get up to that position.
Abdel-Kawy now stands within one win of a probable quarter-final with Rachael Grinham, the former World Open champion from Australia who won the British Open for the fourth time last week.
Another Australian, the tenth-seeded Kasey Brown, had to survive some tough questions from Aisling Blake, the Amsterdam-based Irish player who shares Liz Irving as coach with world champion Nicol David.
Brown won 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-1. Oh my god, what are you doing? Brown asked the referee when the worrying fourth game was drifting away from her. Please don t use that language, retorted the official.
I had a little trouble reading where the ball was going at first – but I got the hang of it, said Brown, who could next play Natalie Grinham, the second-seeded younger sister who is trying to win the World Open in her adopted home city as a Dutch woman.
A third Australian, Donna Urquhart, came close to taking a two-game lead against Annie Au, the 12th-seeded Hong Kong player before going down 8-11, 11-9, 11-2, 11-3.
Au played better when it mattered most but Urquhart revealed that her mind had been affected by the news that her best friend Jake Lollback had been killed in scuba diving accident not long before the match.
I was pretty shaken up – but tried not to think about it. I felt I started off well and had a game-plan and stuck to it, said Urquhart.
But she s a good player – and showed us why she s number 15 in the world. The end of the second game was crucial and if I d won that it would have made all the difference.
But the first seed did go out when Isabelle Stoehr, the ninth-seeded Frenchwoman, was beaten 8-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-7 by her compatriot Camille Serme, European junior champion a record three times.
I don t have the fighting spirit any more, admitted Stoehr. And she s the better player. She s more confident.
