Great matches at the PSA Rotterdam Open. 3 out of the 4 men’s quarter finals went to the wire. Where to start? Let’s start with the similarities. In all these matches the players played in each other proximity which resulted in a lot of calls for lets and strokes and lots of discussions with the referee.
In the 2nd match of the day it was Eilijah Thomas who showed a lot of character playing against Hazem Hossam. He was 2-0 behind but in game 3, 4 and 5 he kept on fighting for every point. Which resulted in spectacular long rallies and an 3-2 victory.
The same long rallies were seen in the match between Ivan Perez and Jared Carter. According to Ivan that was due that he didn’t feel to well and therefore choose to play the most boring game of his career. The crowd thought otherwise and cheered him to a 3-2 victory. The last game of the night was also a tough but spectacular one. Viktor Byrtus and Seif Tamer played short but very entertaining rallies. As the match went back and forth between the two players, it was never certain who was going to win. In the 5th game the audience thought Viktor was going to win, but Seif suddenly got a second life and sneaked away with victory leaving Viktor in dismay afterwards.
The 4th mans quarter final showed the skills of Yassin Elshafel against Victoria club coach Joeri Hapers. Joeri played very well, but, for the home crowed, regretfully lost to the better player Yassin.
The women’s quarterfinals were quite entertaining also. It was Tessa ter Sluis who had a quick win against Juliette Permentier (3-0). Catelina Palaez showed great skills against a rather nervous Sofia Aveiro Pito. Sofia showed great skills in game 3 but couldn’t stop a defeat. Christina Tartone showed great tactical capabilities in her match against Sofia Zrazhevska. Only in game 3 Sofia could put the pressure on Christina, but in game 1,2 and 4 Christina was simply the better player. Unexpected was the losing of Maya Weishar against Rafaela Albuja. The game scores were close (9/11, 13/15 and 9/11), but Rafaela didn’t seem to be troubled during the game and showed great confidence.
Tomorrow great matches can be seen on the centre court of Victoria Squash Rotterdam. First match starts at 11.00.