QTerminals Qatar Classic 2023 gets underway

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September 9, 2023
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9-September-2023

QTerminals Qatar Classic 2023 gets underway

Doha: The first women’s Qatar Classic matches in eight years were played yesterday as the action began in Doha.
 
In the opening match of the day, England’s Lucy Turmel fought back to avoid a banana skin as the World No.30 overcame World No.61 Malak Khafagy 3-1.
 
The pacy 19-year-old looked confident in the opening game, taking the lead with a deserved 11-6 win as Turmel struggled with the cold court.
 
The Englishwoman hit back in the second, though, looking increasingly confident as she found her targets at the front.
 
After drawing level with an 11-8 win in game two, Turmel kept pushing and, though she struggled at times for consistency, did enough to overcome the Egyptian with 11-7 and 11-5 wins in the last two games.
 
Turmel will take on compatriot and No.8 seed Georgina Kennedy in the next round.
 
Afterwards, Turmel said. “I don’t think I’m rusty, I feel sharp and really great after preseason. I had a good tournament in Paris. This court is so alien to anything I’ve played on before.
 
“It’s a good challenge and it’s even more satisfying to figure it out and get a win on here.”
 
Elsewhere on the glass court, Hong Kong’s Ka Yi Lee also came from behind in an entertaining 3-2 win against Egypt’s Hana Moataz, while Wales’ Emily Whitlock and Hana Ramadan secured straight-games wins over Latvia’s Ineta Mackevica and Scotland’s Georgia Adderley, respectively.
 
On the traditional courts, 16-year-old Amina Orfi continued to impress as she downed Egyptian compatriot and World No.28 Nadine Shahin 3-1.
 
The World No.39 settled well as she pulled away from 5-5 to take the first game 11-7.
 
The reigning Junior World Champion’s powers of recovery were on show in game two as she came back from 2-7 down to take the game 11-9.
 
Despite dropping the third game 10-12, Orfi was able to fire back and progress to round two after taking game four 11-8. 
 
Orfi faces another all-Egyptian contest in round two after Fayrouz Aboelkheir beat Nicole Bunyan 3-0.
 
Elsewhere on the traditional courts, Hong Kong’s Tse-Wing Tong got the better of France’s Enora Villard and Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam beat Sana Ibrahim.