WindyCity Update: Kawy Sees Off Spirited Whitlock

Egyptian number six seed Omneya Abdel Kawy was given a stern test by England’s Emily Whitlock in a second round encounter at the 2016 Windy City Open today in which the Englishwoman, by now an established top 20 player, showed promising signs that her future match-ups with the top players in the women’s ranks could begin to swing in her favour.

The opening game was a close affair which Kawy managed to squeeze 12-10 after some spirited and clever play from Whitlock saw her claw back a three point deficit to force the tie-break.

Whitlock displayed patience and rally craft as she played with positive length to restrict the normally deadly Kawy from using her arsenal of attacking shots and was rewarded in the second as she shot ahead to level the scoreboard.

The third was a nip and tuck affair with momentum swinging back and fourth and it was Whitlock who looked to be in the ascendency before a series of sublime winners allowed Kawy a reprieve before theasserted her authority on proceedings in the fourth, going 7-1 ahead before sealing the match.

“Emily played very well today and I needed to focus 100 per cent to keep up with her and make it difficult,” said Kawy.

“She plays great lobs and drops so I had to play low in order to keep her under pressure and focus on keeping her behind me. I tried hard not to attack too early, which would be my normal style, and play with patience and thank God it worked.

“I pushed myself to make the pace harder than I know she likes in the mid stages so I’m happy to come through.”

Result:
[6] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [15] Emily Whitlock (ENG) 3-1: 12-10, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4 (41m)