Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) 2-1 Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) 8-11, 12-10, 11-5 (33m)
As you can see on the stats, those two had met 3 times in PSA in 2021, with the last match going to Nour, the two previous to Fayrouz, that’s including a 73m match in 5…. Mash’Allah….
Nour, 19 and 48WR was on fire at the start of the match, and Fayrouz didn’t have much say about the game, from 3/3 to 9/5, saving a game ball at 10/7 but losing it 11/8 in 8m of fast, furious and typical Egyptian attacking style of squash.
A strong response from Fayrouz in the second, 4/1, quickly caught up, 4/4, and in the middle of the game, Nour finding the same form that she did in the opener, from 5/5 to 9/6, 10/7 match ball.
Incredibly, Fayrouz, back to the wall, found her best form, hitting her targets at the back finally. At 9/10, Nour is coming to the centre as she’s been wrong footed, and her recovering from injury foot gets stuck by accident in Fayrouz legs. Probably fearing flaired up her injury, she loses a bit of focus and two errors in a row allow her opponent to score 5 points in a row from 7/10 to 12/10, 11m.
What was stricking throught the match was that – not only Fayrouz didn’t use the towel once and served on the left side on a regular basis – she was as calm as Nour was excited. Yallah and screams coming from Nour, no visible emotions from the 16 years old. Quite impressive of maturity really.
The third sees the youngster finding the same squash she used to beat Melissa Alves, French number one, the night before. Assertive, fast, moving well, she was just a bit more confident in her shots than Nour was I felt, 2/0, 6/2. At 9/5, a stupendous rally from both her, with some retrieving and a half from the girls, and it’s 11/5 in 11m. Incredibly, Fayrouz lives to play another day.
Fayrouz
“In the second game when she was 10-7 up I just said to myself that I had nothing to lose.
“I tried to organise the way I was playing at the front and all credit to Nour, we’ve been training together back in Egypt and I know it’s not going to be easy.
“Thanks to the crowd and my team back in Egypt.”
Report to come
