Round 1 of the 2016 Allam British Open

I left for England quite a few days before the event started so that I could get used to the time difference and give my body enough time to recover from the long flight.

I spent the first few days of my trip training in Birmingham. I managed to get some training in with some other of the girls on the tour and gave myself an opportunity to get used to playing on the lower tin again (we play on the 17 inch tin compared to the traditional 19 inch).  I then traveled on the train up to Hull where the British Open is being held. Luckily the weather was great so had I got to enjoy the English countryside for the majority of the journey!I Had a few more days here in Hull to practice and get used to the court before I played my first match against Emily Whitlock the number 16 seed from England.

My Match was scheduled for 5pm. So I was able to have a nice sleep in and then head to the club for a light hit just to get the body moving and get a feel for the court. I felt I was hitting the ball well and moving smoothly in practice which gave me confidence for my match. Next it was back to the hotel for a spot of lunch and to relax before my match.

Once arriving to club I managed to catch the end of one of the men's matches and then started to prepare for my match. I went through my normal warm up routine and mentally prepared as well.

The first game started well for me. I put in a few hard long rallies to begin with which seemed to work in my favour. I managed to get a big lead and keep my focus to keep the lead and close out the game 11-5.  The start of the second was fairly similar before a lost a little bit of focus and lost my length a little mid way through the game. However I managed to recompose and find my game plan and won that game 11-7. I started the third really positively and playing more aggressively than I had in the previous two games and quickly rushed to 10-3 giving myself 7 match balls. Emily played some great shots to pull back to 5-10 then we had a long hard fought rally where I managed to find the nick and win the match 3-0.

I was extremely happy with how I played and very pleased to be moving on the last 16 of a World Series event! My next match will be against the defending champion Camille Serme from France.