#vicky lust

[2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) 3-0 [13] Victoria Lust (ENG) 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 (22m)

[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) 3-0 Daryl Selby (ENG)  11-3, 11-4, 11-2 (22m)

Nour

I wanted to start well and make sure that every shot was good. I’m happy with my performance and it’s a good win for me. This is the last event and it has been a long season. The defeat in El Gouna won’t change anything, I just want to keep going and try to do my best this week.

SJ has been playing good since she has been playing well since coming back from her injury and I think I’m the only one that hasn’t played her since she has come back. I’m looking forward to that match and hopefully it will be a good one.”

Mohamed I’ve played with Daryl so many times over the years. I think the first time I played him I was 16-years-old, it was in a BSPA event, when Tim Garner used to run them and I beat him and that was a big thing and then a month later we played again in the Canary Wharf qualification and he gave me a big big lesson.

He comes from a generation, which is a brutal generation, and he stayed with them for many years and I watched him play the British Nationals this year and him winning 3-2, just shows how tough him and his British generation were and still are. I learned a lot from them, Peter Barker, Daryl, Nick and James. They are probably the best generation that England ever had and they are the reason why Daryl and James  are playing today and I’m happy to be on court with them on more time. I felt maybe I was physically stronger playing him today and if he was physically fine today then we would have had a much harder match. Tomorrow, Miguel. We had a great battle last year, I was very disappointed to lose but at the same time he was a great winner. We are really good friends and his mum and my mum are actually hanging out with each other in Alexandria right now. Even the families are good friends with each other, so I was happy for him last year. We have met four times already this season and I’m sure this one will be another great one.

Daryl (on twitter) Sorry to anyone watching, gave it all I could but very annoyingly wasn’t anywhere near 100% tonight (although Mo was still on ). Really disappointing way to end the season as wanted to give it a good go this evening..

[13] Victoria Lust (ENG) 3-2 Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA)  11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9 (58m)

Vicky

The first game, I started really well and I stuck to my gameplan, but I went a bit wobbly from there on in. Liv was hitting some ridiculous shot and moving really well. In the end, I felt like I was trying to survive and that is sometimes what you have to do and luckily I was able to come out on top.

I was worried. That made me play really well in the fourth and I think Liv maybe lost a bit of her discipline and that was the turning point. She won the third pretty comfortably and I was worried.

Mariam Metwally (EGY) 3-2 [14] Victoria Lust (ENG)  11-13, 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9 (53m)

Well, not sure those two will spend their Easter break together, and even less sure they will invite the ref that seemed to play a very big role  in the intense match between Mariam & Vicky. Vicky battled back from behind to win the first game, taking the game thanks to a bold call from the ref going for a stroke against the Egyptian that was expecting a no let. The Egyptians were not impressed bless them. Mariam fought back with some good and positive squash to take the second and third to lead the match and was up comfy in the 5th, 9-5, only to see a very positive Vicky eating away the lead to claw back to 8/9. The English lady saved a match ball but lost 11/9 on a stroke….

Mariam

I am really happy to get through this match and into the third El Gouna. It is my first time through and it has not been my best season so far. I started to play well since Black Ball so I am feeling confident on court. My confidence is back. It is our fifth time playing each other and it is the first time I have beaten Vicky so it is a great achievement. I was really worried because in Holland last tournament, I was 2-1 up against Tesni, so I started to think that it was going to be the same scenario, so I started to worry. I had to be 100% on court and try to calm down. It worked.

[12] Victoria Lust (Eng) 3-2 Nadine Shahin (Egy) 4-11, 12-14, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 (62m)

Let me put it this way: I don’t think those two will spend their Easter Break together. There was no love lost out there today and we had it all: a 2/0 down and a huge come back, an injury break at the start of the 4th when Nadine accidentally hit Vicky in the jaw, then the ball bursting at 5/5 in the 5th!!!

Sprinkle on that a few collisions/decisions between two players with strong temperament, and you have a bubbly encounter! It was not bad, seriously, but it was the most animated match we had all day that’s for sure. And both girls worked extremely hard, never giving cheap points away – maybe except that serve out from Nadine at the start of the second game. Nadine controlled the front of the court in the first two games, but her backhand crosscourt let her down from the third game on – or did Vicky just get used to that flick? – and slowly slowly, the English lady got back into the game. I feel the second is crucial, although lost by Vicky, she stopped the momentum of her opponent: led 7/2, she only bowed 14/12, having had 2 game balls, Nadine closing the game on her second opportunity. It probably  gave Vicky confidence that she could turned the tide round. Playing a better deep game, she managed to put the Egyptian under more and more pressure, taking the winners away from her. At 2/2, it was truly anybody’s game, and at 5/5 in the 5th, the tension was pretty high on court! A few lets, the ball bursting… It was all happening! But from 7/7, the English player found her best squash, Nadine run and retrieved a lot but just couldn’t impose her short game anymore, 11/8 for Vicky to finish her come back…

Vicky

Last time we play about a year ago, it was about the same style of game, so maybe we came on court today expecting that kind of play. I think it was just a few traffic problems, we are both feisty players, and I don’t think it was anybody’s fault. The flip flop decisions didn’t help, in that kind of matches, you need to know when a let is a let or when it’s a stroke!

R1: Victoria Lust (Eng) 3-0 Heba El Torky (Egy) 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 (27m)

Not sure what happened from Heba’s point of view, as I felt she was not playing at her normal level tonight, probably the shot quality and the accuracy of the English girl having a lot to do with it! Still, Heba was hitting very hard, and didn’t have her normal variation in the shots….

Meanwhile Vicky was at the top of her game, I thought, and truly play some of the best squash I’ve seen her play. Compose, relaxed, moving very well and very fast, she took the Egyptian to the throat from the first game, and never let the Alexandria girl breathe, never giving her any opening or time to the ball.