Irish Open
I arrived in Dublin the day before the competition started. I am playing a qualifier who was drawn as Elise Ng from Hong Kong.Wednesday I practised and then played at 3pm. I felt really sharp on court and won 9-2, 9-2, 9-2. Moving into the quarters against Isabelle Stoehr from France.
The quarter final could have been a tough match. I prepared well and was feeling good. Isabelle had been playing well and had some good results so I was up for the match. I won easier than I thought I would but played well. I won 9-6, 9-4, 9-0. The semi final will be against the number 1 seed Vicky Botwright.
With our matches tied from National League last week at 1-1 I was up for the match and confident I could win if I played well. I started fast again and made a good start. Vicky came back a little but I was too far ahead for her to come all the way back. I took that game 9-7 and then after some good rallies from me and some unforced errors from Vicky I won the next two games 9-3, 9-3. Pleased to surpass my seeding again and another final against Alison Waters.....
I was really looking forward to the final and to another match with Alison. We started the match just after 4pm with a packed crowd of over 300 people watching. The first game was longer than the score would indicate and there were alot of hand in and outs. I took it 9-1 playing the way I wanted to and moving the ball around. Alison came out strong in the second and played well. She dictated and I didn't force what I wanted to do. Another long ish game even though the score would suggest otherwise at 9-0 to Alison to level it at 1-1. The third was abit closer with me pulling away to take it 9-6. The fourth again was Alison taking the game to me in what was turning out to be a see saw match who ever enforced their game took it! She won it 9-2 to level the match at 2-2. A big push was required in the 5th game and it was tight all the way! We were both patchy trying to force our own games. Eventually it got to 7-7 before Alison got match ball at 8-7. There I managed to save two before getting to 8-8. She picked set two and I immediately went 9-8 matchball up. Although I couldn't take it on the first or second matchball after a couple of really tough rallies I took it on the third matchball. Ecstatic with my win and reversing the result from the National's I am pleased to have won my first WISPA title of 2008!
Next up European teams in Amsterdam for England then the British Open in Liverpool.