Granite Club Open

This week I have been in Toronto playing the 11k$ event at the amazing Granite Club. As well as having 4 traditional squash courts, there are 2 hardball doubles courts, a singles court, an ice rink, curling, 2 swimming pools, numerous tennis courts and a bowling alley.

I got a bye in the first round of Qualifying and then played Canadian Gen Lessard in the 2nd round. I started well and took the first game preety easily 11-3. In the second I continued to play well but caught the tin far too often. I managed to take the game however and then cut out some of the errors to take the third also. The final score was 11-3 16-14 11-7.

I was drawn to play number 1 seed Latasha Khan in the first round of the main draw. We played in Washington before Christmas and I won 3-2, so I knew she would be wanting to avenge that defeat. After a slow start, going down 9-4, in the first game I began to play more intelligently. I managed to get it back to 9-9, only to lose the game 11-9 after an error and a debatable no let call.

The second was a different story, it was even until about 7-7 and then she pulled away to 10-7. I got it back to 10-10 and eventually lost the game 14-12 through a combination of bad luck, good play from Latasha and another debatable no let at 13-12.

The third game was neck and neck all the way up until 8-6, 8-7, 9-7, 10-7, 10-8. Latasha closed out the match with a great straight kill into the nick. It's always frustrating to lose such a close match, especially 3-0, but it was a huge improvement on my play last week and some of the things I have been working on in training were really showing through which is really encouraging.

I head home on Thursday and will be getting some good training in before my next few events, in April. I have the British Under 23 championships followed by the Irish Open, another Silver event, and straight into the Intercounty championships where we (Warwickshire) are defending champions.

Atwater Qualifying: Round 2

In the qualifying finals I was up against Canadian number 1 Miranda Ranieri. I started well but as she began to read my play a bit more, I began to rush my shots and my lead slipped away in the first game and after some silly errors, I lost the first 11-7. She came out strong in the second and I was lacking any patience whatsoever. After slumping to a 6-1 deficit, I began to play more of my own game. Unfortunately the hole was too deep to get out of and again a few silly errors towards the end of the game meant she took it 11-8 and a 2-0 lead in games. I battled in the 3rd but had lost confidence in my short game at this point which made it difficult to finish rallies. The pattern repeated and after a couple of errors at the end of the game, she took it 11-8 and the match 3-0.

It wasn't how I hoped to play but will take heart from continued persistence, when previously I may have continued the impatience right through the match.

I am now getting in some training before heading to Toronto on Saturday morning.

Song of the day: Anything sung by Siyoli

Atwater Cup: Qualifying Round 1

Yesterday I had my first match against Canadian junior Hollie Naughton. She hits the ball nicely, so I knew I had to get in front from the start and dictate the play. After a shakey first few points I settled into the match and dominated most of the rallies whilst still playing some shots to get a feel for the court. I won comfortably in 3 but there were a few hard fought rallies, so it was a perfect opening test to start off my tournament.

Today I play Miranda Ranieri, another Canadian. Ranked at 44 in the world she will be a tougher opponent but hopefully I can play well and try to qualify for the main draw in my first WSA Silver event.

On a side note. The suburbs of Montreal are mostly on the side of a hill, with our billet's house being about half way up, and yesterday we took a different walking route back and ended up walking up the steepest hill in Montreal. Even just walking up it, our calves were burning by the time we got to the top!
It is also unusually warm for the time of year, with temperatures reportedly heading up towards 20°!

Song of the day: Ed Sheeran - Drunk (mainly because Tesni keeps signing it and it's now stuck in my head!)

The Journey

So my journey started nice and early at Heathrow; I was there a couple of hours early but I can cope with that. The first leg was to JFK airport in New York and that all went smoothly as can be expected, with ice cream being an unexpected, but definitely embraced, delight provided towards the end of the flight. When I got to JFK, I had a couple of before my connection left and didn't even need to change terminal so was able to saunter through passport control and getnmy luggage without rushing. And then came my bad luck, which as always came in three. First off they were experiencing a mechanical issue on the plane, so when they had fixed it we were now running 45 minutes late. Next when I went to board the plane, my phone was nowhere to be found. I looked in the last few places I had been sat but had to give in to the fact it was gone and board the plane. Bye bye 2 week old phone. By now, as you can imagine, I was not in the happiest state of mind. The connection flight was full as well, not one free seat. This would never usually bother me, but being my lucky day I wish there had been another seat I could have moved to. The guy I was seated next to was either a)afraid of flying b)ill c)both. Whatever the reason he suddenly began vomiting before the plane had even taken off, so suddenly that he was caught unawares, leaving no time to open a sick bag. After that, well let's just say it's a good job I don't have a strong gag reflex!

When I finally managed to leave Montreal airport it was getting on for 11pm. The organiser, Glenn Wilson, very kindly came and picked me up from the airport and brought me to the house of the billets I will be staying with until Saturday. They are really lovely and I am really looking forward to the week ahead and hopefully giving my ranking a kick start now I'm back from injury!

Song of the Day: Lana Del Ray - Video Games

Tournament Return

Rehab completed, I am now preparing for my next couple of tournaments which are in Canada starting next Sunday (18th). First up is the $25k Atwater Cup in Montreal, where I am 8th seed in Qualifying, before heading to Toronto the following week for the $10k Granite Club Open where I will also begin in Qualifying.

I am feeling really positive after some good training behind me and hopefully I can play well and gain some decent results on my trip.