Malaysian open
What a strange feeling to arrive back at KL airport!!! It wasn't pretty when I left here 4 months ago. Glad everything's going well again. I'm pleased to be going to stay at the Curve for this tournament. Not sure I could face going back to the hotel where I was locked up for nearly 3 days on the last trip.I arrived at the hotel and struggled to stay awake. I've been reading Agassi's book and been really enjoying it. Not even that could keep me awake though last night. Slept from 11pm-5am and was awake for 40mins and then managed to get back to sleep until 9am. Good to catch up on that missed sleep. I hit with Tania this morning and felt pretty good. Had lunch and came back to the club to watch the qualifying matches. Otherwise I would have fallen asleep.
The next morning was the Press Conference. Always something SRAM (Malaysian Squash) like to organise. It's well attended by the players and this year was no different. After that I hit and then watched the last round of qualifying. Later I found out i'd draw Dipika from India as my qualifier. Off to bed early for a good nights sleep.
Hit Wednesday morning at 11am and came back to the hotel for some R&R before my match. I went back down at 3.20pm and prepared for my match. I felt quite good before but was abit unsure of how I would play with this being my first event back. Dipika was playing well and had come through qualifying playing well. She was confident and I started abit sluggish. I lost the 1st 11-9. The 2nd was abit better from me. I got a better length and just stopped Dipika playing her shots from the back. I took that game 11-9. The 3rd I got off to a really poor start. After wanting to build on winning the 2nd game I went 7-2 down. I just can't afford to give leads like that. I did tighten back up and play better towards the end of the game but it was too little too late and I lost it 11-9. The 4th was much better. I stepped up the pace and tried to get onto the ball earlier. I took a 7-3 lead and then relaxed just a touch and Dipika came back abit but I'd done enough to close out the game 11-8. The 5th I tried to remember how I got my lead in the 4th and played well at the beginning of the 5th and got out to an 8-3 lead. Again though I struggled to close out the match. I was waiting for it to happen instead of staying aggressive. I won....in the end but only just. 11-9 in the 5th. Pleased to be through to my seeding position especially my first event back.
The next day I was playing Raneem again who beat Rachel in the 1st round 3-1. It was a good draw but considering I only just won the day before it would be tough.
I made a good start but so did she. We both had game plans but it was whoever could stick to it the best. Raneem won the 1st and I won the 2nd and 3rd. I was feeling good in the 4th but Raneem played well and got away to a big lead which was too far for me to close. I lost the 4th. So into another 5th game. I played well and was up for it and went 5-1 up. Then I got abit tired. It had been a tough game and I wasn't quite back to where I was before my injury. Raneem took advantage and went from 1-5 to 8-5 up. I managed to get back abit but couldn't quite win. I lost 13-11 in the 5th. Pretty disappointed but pleased the ankle held up and I made my seed. Home now for 2 weeks of hard training before Australia.