I played in the Harrow Greenwich Open this past week.
I played Samantha Teran of Mexico in the qualification, which is a repeat of last year! I was meant to play Emma Beddoes of England, but one of the girls pulled out just in time for WSA to change the draw (1 hr before the matches began). Never a dull moment!
I know I am up to scratch and ready to improve upon the 3-0 beating Samantha gave me this time last year.
We started out very competitively, and I lost the first game in a close 11-9.
The second went my way 11-9.
The third her way 11-8, the fourth my way 11-8.
All the games were intense with no one way in the lead or anything.
So we found ourselves in the fifth. Unfortunately for me, Samantha came out on fire, and me back on my heels. Not exactly how I would replay the fifth if I could. She raced ahead 7-0. At 5-0 down I started to think about losing. DOH. At 7-0 down I finally thought WHAT ARE YOU DOING, thinking like that. Which spurred me to make a mini comeback to 7-5 down. Good to know that I had it in me, I guess, but it was too late, and I screwed it up at the end. A couple good shots from her/loose shots from me. 9-5 to her. Here I had a fabulous opportunity, on a sort of awkward loose ball from her, and I went about it all the wrong way and hit the tin. Then I was thinking, it’s not over, 10-5, I’ve seen it done before. One at a time. And I smacked the tin. On a straight drive. Choke!!
Not impressed with how I finished the match, but an intense 3-2 is improvement over a crap 3-0. Samantha is a great person for me to measure up against since she is quite consistent (minus her injury this past year), and I get to play her often. But I really want this kind of win. Looking to improve this week at the Cleveland Classic in Ohio.
After the qualification, I played a mixed doubles pro am event. This is a fun event, a nice distraction from losing. And especially exciting since my partner and I are an awesome team. We are the defending champs from last year, and we expected nothing less this year! And I needed a win. We won both of our matches in an ultra tight 3-2 fashion; we played awesome at the end of the fifth games. Did that ever feel good after I screwed up my match with Samantha!
This week I play in the Cleveland Classic. We got the draw today and I play Rachel Grinham on Thursday night. Looking forward to it!
