Manchester Open SFs: Kennedy Avenges Hany Defeat To Reach Final

Home favourite and No.2 seed Georgina Kennedy advanced to the Manchester Open final after seeing off the threat of dangerous Egyptian Salma Hany in four tight games. 

World No.7 Kennedy, who lost the pairs last meeting at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, delivered a relentless performance to seal victory in 68 minutes and book a date with Nour El Tayeb in the final. 

The England No.1’s tactics were evident from the offset, with Kennedy keeping the ball off Hany’s backhand side whenever possible, moving into a one-game lead after 13 minutes. 

Hany enjoyed more success in the second game, taking a more aggressive ’T’ position and forcing Kennedy to hit her attacks from deep in the court, levelling by an 11-9 scoreline. However, Kennedy regathered herself to take a tight tie-break in the third, before moving into a crucial lead in the fourth. 

From 6-4 up in the fourth, Kennedy never let Hany draw parity, moving through to her third final of the 2023/24 PSA World Tour season. 

After the match, Kennedy said: “Salma never gives you anything easy and I think sometimes when you can get deep into a match, there are some players who are vulnerable to giving you some cheap, easy points, which help you get over the line, but there’s nothing like that with Salma. 

“Even if it’s like when I was 10-7 up on that third, she pulled it back to the tie break and it was just so critical that I won that game and kept the momentum. So I’m really really happy to have come through that match 

“It’s really difficult to stay calm and I don’t know how I look on there but I actually felt pretty relaxed today. Sometimes when I’m playing you can see in my face that I’m visibly stressed, but today I just felt pretty relaxed. 

“If I go toe-to-toe with Salma on the skills stuff, she’s always going to pick me off, so I just really tried to get the ball away from her, running away from her all the time and the use that quick counter-drop when I could. I had that belief that I could take it today. So, I’m just happy that it came off.”

Result: 

[2] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt [4] Salma Hany (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7 (68m)