R1: Nour El Tayeb on fire against Amanda

[2] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) 2-0 [7] Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 11-5, 11-5 (17m)

If people thought that Nour’s victory in Manchester was a bit of “end of lockdown” luck – Nour won 3/0 in 35m, 12/10 in the 3rd, CatWoman confirmed she is hungry, fit and willing…

Nour is a very sensitive being, and like a cat, will feel emotions quite deeply I truly believe. As she had some lovely news recently, as her sister in law – Wael Farag’s wife – just had a beautiful little girl – I feel it was like a huge weight has been lifted off the young Egyptian’s shoulders. But what do I know….

Today, Nour was everywhere on the court, and fast. Amanda didn’t do much wrong I felt but she just couldn’t move fast enough out of the way, conceding far too many strokes, in particular in the 2nd game – I counted 5, offering nice points to a Nour who didn’t need help for sure…

Amanda never looked comfortable today I felt while Nour looked like if she built the court herself. Accurate, fast, calm. She will be hard to beat this week.

“It is never easy, even if the score might say that. It was a hard game because Amanda and I, we have been playing since we were ten and she has beaten me the last few times we have played so I knew it was tough.

“But, also, I knew the conditions were tough so whoever was going to deal with the conditions the better today was going to have the better chance. I think I dealt very well with the conditions and it suited my game nicely, so I am happy with the way I played.

“As far as my standards, I think I am getting better every match. I don’t want to get carried away yet, because there are still two very tough matches to come so I don’t want my confidence to get too high, but for now I am very excited to play my next match.

“Our group is very strong, the four of us are very even. Hania is the current on-form player, she won the last major, and Camille has also been playing very well, but hopefully I can beat them both.”