Malaysian Open
I arrived in Malaysia on Saturday. I flew on my own which wasn't pleasant via Qatar. It was very busy and the flight was long.I'm sharing Tania and we stayed at the Pearl International Hotel which wasn't great but it was close to the club. We moved on Tuesday to the tournament hotel which is the Royale Bintang Hotel which is really nice. It's far away from the club but close to where the glass court is. We went to the press conference on Tuesday and then went to practise again and watch the qualifying matches. I drew Madeline Perry. We play at 6.30pm Wednesday.
Today is match day. Tania and I hit this morning and then we went back to the room to chillout for a while before we both play. I was due on at 6.30pm but Tania and Alison's match was long and so I went on late. I played well against Madeline and made a good start. Madeline made a few errors and I didn't and took the first game 11/4. The scoring seemed to work well for me. I think making a good start is really important and I managed to do that. I won the second game 11/7 but had been up 9/3 or 9/4 and then let a few points slip. In the third I didn't play as well. A few silly shots and Madeline was level with me throughout the game. I broke away to go 10-8 matchball up and was probably a bit relaxed about thinking i'd won the match. A couple of errors from me and winners from Madeline and I was 11-10 game ball down. I tried to go back to basics and managed to draw level a 11-11 and then took the game 13-11 I was really pleased with my win. I now set up a quarter final against Rachel Grinham tomorrow.
Quarter Final day. All the matches are on the glass court near to the hotel in a shopping mall. My practise is with Nicol David at 12.30pm before my match at 8pm tonight against Rachel.
My match against Rachel was delayed because of some long men's matches before the start of the women's. I made a good start and was feeling really good about the match. I pulled away to a lead early in the first game and started trying to finish the ball abit too early. I was 8-3 up and as Rachel slowly closed the gap I got abit edgy with my short game and lost it 12-10. Although I had lost the first game I still felt confident in the second game and after being game ball down I saved three and converted the game 13-11 to level the match 1-1. The third was crucial and we both knew it. Again I came back from being gameball down to level the points at 10-10. Rachel scored a point to go 11-10 up and then after I put a great forehand drop in she hit a loose ball down the middle that just needed at staright backhand volley drop to level the points again at 11-11 and I put it in the tin. I was extremely disappointed to lose the game like that after working hard to come back from game ball down. After that I was abit flat in the fourth and got off to a bad start. I was 7-1 down and with the new scoring the women are using you can't do that. I lost the game 11-3 and felt gutted with the way the match finished. I'll take loads of positives out of it though and work on them for next time. For now it's home before the next competition.