[7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 3-0 Emily Whitlock (ENG) 11-3, 11-7, 11-6 (26m)
A pretty straight forward match today between the two English rivals. For those who wouldn’t follow the UK Nationals, Emily could have played the final against SJ in the last UK Nationals, as she was set to play the semis against Jasmin Hutton.
But a freak injury prevented her to do so, and I guess that today was pretty important for Emily, maybe trying to prove that she could have been British Champion had she have the opportunity. But that’s me rambling, what do I know.
First game, 6m, and from 3/3 it was all about SJ. Short and sharp rallies, Emily never had a chance to get into the match, cold court with SJ on fire!
But a great battle in the second, neck to neck, with even Em leading at the start of the game, 4/2, 5/3, then 5/5, 6/6, 7/7. Sarah Jane in the killer mode again, and it’s 4 points in a row for the Gladiator, 11/7 in 9m.
The third will be a bit wobbly from both, uncharacteristic errors from both players, 7m, 4 errors for Em, 5 for SJ, but it’s a domination from the latter in that last one, 3/2, 6/3, 11/6.
SarahJane:
Last time I played Emily it was best of three, and I had a bit of a sluggish start and she was firing on all cylinders, so I tried to take that attitude into today and come out almost as if it was a best of three and back myself physically that way and make sure that I’m going from the start. I like the best of three, but best of five works best in these events.
It’s a bit like a boxing title, you know? You always have to defend your title, and today I wanted to prove that I am the British Number One.
I thought my first game was fine, we got to 3/3 and then I was able to hit the ball pretty well I thought.
Yes, in the third, a few too many errors, and only one of them was the right shot. I relaxed a bit in that third, as you could probably see by my shot selection!! But I’m pretty pleased as I have been working on staying focus at the end of games and this is my first 3/0 without tie-breaks for a very long time!
I’ve got to two finals in the last couple of months, they were at Bronze level, so really I would like to push on and I reached the semi-finals last week in Chicago, so I would really like to win a title before the end of the season.
