This was a really odd match.  I was a bit lucky to get away with it in the end...  Omneya was playing much better than I was but I guess I was able to deal with the situation better mentally.

My length was not quite deep enough or tight enough, and anything I put in the front was not good enough, and since Omneya's an amazing shot player and started the match in pretty good form she was just chopping me up from all over the court under those circumstances.

The first 2 games went so quickly and I was kinda shocked to be losing so badly.  But by then it was obvious that I wasn't hitting the ball well enough to actually "win" rallies, so it seemed my only chance was for her to lose it... so it was back on the court and hit everything as deep as possible so that atleast when she's going for her shots there will likely be more errors if she's having to play them from the back rather than giving her easy balls in the front.  Also, if I could make the rallies last then maybe her 80-minute semi-final from the night before would take it's toll.  And it may seem weird - but I think the fact that Omneya won the first 2 games so easily could've worked in my favour at this point too - I'm sure everybody in the crowd would be expecting her to finish off the match easily and she may have been feeling the pressure.

I won the next 2 games sticking to that plan.  I wasn't giving her easy balls in the front where she is lethal, and she was now making mistakes instead of all the winners she was hitting earlier.  It could have been pressure, fatigue, or that she was bothered by blisters on her feet... whatever the reason she had gone for early winners and the mistakes had come.

But she was back into it for the 5th.  This was the only close game in the match, and it went right down to the wire.  She started rallying a bit more instead of going for shots so early in the rally, and I lost my focus a few times - going short when that was the only thing I wasn't supposed to do, and would end up losing the rally and shaking my head at myself.  But even at 8-6 down I wasn't panicked or nervous, I knew that Omneya was playing better than I was on the day and if she won she deserved it.  But I was not going to give it to her - she would have to play it out and win the rally. From that point I think she must have made 5 errors in a row for me to take the match 10-8 in one hand.

So I must have had the mental edge because she was definitely playing better squash than I was today.  But in saying that, I think she still held up mentally quite well this week... having to deal with the pressure of a home crowd expecting you to win is hard on anyone - but an Egyptian home crowd has gotta be the most fanatical in the world.  Just to get thru her semi-final the day before was impressive - against an opponent she had lost to the last 2 times, but was still ranked higher than, and so had the entire nation watching on live television expecting her to win.  And considering she's still only 19 years old I think she did really well. (But am also glad she didn't do quite well enough to beat me!)

I'm just glad it's over.  Now I'm looking forward to a short break before getting into some proper training again. I feel like I've been non-stop for the last 6-7 weeks, and the fact that I wasn't able to maintain focus properly also tells me that I need a break from the squash court.  So after I clear my head I should have plenty of time to get into a proper training program again leading up to the World Games in July in about 8 weeks time.