R1: Mariam Metwally (Egy) 3-0 Ineta Mackevica (Lat) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (23m)
Mariam, a changed woman! The Egyptian, 24, has been riddled with injuries for the past three years. Eventually, she got surgery last year, and finally, finally, she is fit and sound. She has lost a tremendous lot of weight, she is thinking about losing five more kilos which for a squash player is always a good idea – although for a ‘normal’ young lady, she is looking just fine, thank you…
Because she is now injury free and fitter than she’s been for years, I saw how in control of the match she was. Well, until the third game, where ‘fatigue aidant’, with a bit of fatigue in the legs, she started to ask for a few lets she didn’t get, and got penalised for not moving out of the way quickly enough.
Although she truly didn’t agree with the decisions, it forced her to focus on her squash, on her movement, and put the ball deep at the back and crisply at the front, preventing Ineta from any impact on her match, taking time and choices away from her.
Length of games, simple enough, 7m, 7m, 7m and those two had never played before…
Mariam:
Physically, I feel fine. I have worked hard on my fitness since Black Ball, where I was not physically strong enough, recovering from my left knee surgery. But now, I feel that I’m strong, and I can trust my body to go for a 5 setter if needed, which was not the case for 3 years. I never knew how my body would react, and my squash game suffered.
I had a lot of people coming to me before my surgery and telling me there was nothing wrong with my squash skills, but that I needed to be fitter. And I’m happy that I’m finally back to my best form.
I keep remembering the juniors years, I used to battle in the finals against Nour el Sherbini, against Nouran Gohar, who are now number 1 and number 2 in the world. I feel I’m not too far off. I’m still there, and I just need to give it a big push, and hopefully, aim for the top twenty…
