Madeline Perry ensured her place in the WSA Cayman Islands World Open quarter-finals last night, following a consummate performance against the teenage No.8 seed Nour El Sherbini.
Perry, seeded tenth for the event, got off to a flying start against the higher ranked Egyptian and stormed to a first game lead with Sherbini managing just two points in response. The second game started in similar fashion, with the Irishwoman taking another strong lead, but Sherbini began to get in to the match, chipping away at the deficit to draw level at 9-all. Experience and confidence in her game saw Perry extend her lead to two games, and tied again at 9-all in the third, she claimed a stroke either side of an unforced error from the teenage to book her quarter-final place.
“When we played in the British Open the court was really cold and I knew these conditions would suit me more but I didn’t expect to get a start like that,” Perry told SquashSite after the match. “At 7-0 I had to try to keep my concentration as I knew she’d be coming back into it.
“I’m really pleased to get through here, my form has been a bit up and down but this is the world open and I really like coming here, so I wanted to be able to perform here.”
Perry will face six-time World Champion Nicol David in the quarters, following the top seed continuing to power past her opposition. Her deconstruction of ninth seed Annie Au took just 25minutes, with the Hong Kong interntional managing just eight points in the match.
Round two continues later today from Grand Cayman…
Quarter-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) v [10] Madeline Perry (IRL)
[4] Alison Waters (ENG) v [6] Jenny Duncalf (ENG)
TBC vs TBC
TBC vs TBC
2nd round:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [9] Annie Au (HKG) 11-3, 11-2, 11-3 (25m)
[10] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [8] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) 11-2, 11-9, 11-9 (37m)
[4] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [15] Samantha Teran (MEX) 11-5, 12-10, 11-3 (29m)
[6] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [14] Camille Serme (FRA) 12-10, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8 (58m)
19:45 – [7] Low Wee Wern (MAS) v [12] Kasey Brown (AUS)
20:30 – [3] Laura Massaro (ENG) v [Q] Nicolette Fernandes (GUY)
19:00 – [5] Joelle King (NZL) v [11] Natalie Grinham (NED)
21:15 – [2] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) v [13] Dipika Pallikal (IND)
