Rosemary Allan – Irish Open 2018
Irish Open 2018 – Rosemary Allan
I competed in the Irish Open 2018 mid November. I had some very close and enjoyable matches, where I gained valuable experience. I started out in the qualifiers of the singles, where there was 2 rounds before qualifying for the main draw. I had a bye into the second round, where I faced Moya Ryan from Ireland. I came out strong with a 11-5 lead at the midway point and eventually winning the first set 21-15. Moya came into the second set with a much more attacking and consistent game, which I struggled with and she won the second set 21-11. She continued with this tactic and was 6-2 up in the final set. I remained calm and focused of consistency and was leading 11-10 at the change over. Moya gained the first match point at 20-19. I saved this match point and then got a match point of my own and won the third and final set 22-20.
I was now into the main draw, where I had Toni Woods from Scotland. I had played her in the Welsh Open last year, where I lost 22-24 in the third set, so was looking forward to another close match. In the first set, I went 16-10 up, when Toni unfortunately retired due to injury. I was now in the last 16, where I faced the number 1 seed and world number 67, Soraya De Visch Eijbergen from the Netherlands. She was far too strong and I did not stay consistent, making many errors.
I now had the ladies doubles. I was partnering Natalia Mitchell for the first time, so was unsure how we would play together. We faced the number 4 seeds who are ranked 114th in the world, so we were not expecting much from the match. The pair had fantastic defence which resulted in some very long and tiring rallies. This included a 65 shot rally at 15-11 (which we won with a net roller on the 65th shot)! We surprised ourselves and managed to win the first set 21-14. We were 18-13 up in the second when the pair really stepped up their game. We got to 20-18 up and had 2 match point opportunities, but could not win them and lost that set 21-23. By the third set we were slowing down and our opponents were speeding up. We could not keep up and lost the third set 16-21.
