The 2nd round of the World Open moved to the amazing Luxor Theatre glass court for the top half of the draw. I faced an in form World Number 8, Raneem El Weleiley who recently won the Weymuller Open. I knew this would be tough and in the first game, found myself fighting nerves. This affected me as I was not hitting my length and moving fluently (as fluently as I can move that is ha). This is fatal against a player who hits the ball as well as Raneem and I found myself down a game, 4/11. I regained composure and was able to hit better length and could incorporate my short game which put more pressure on Raneem and forced errors from the Egyptian. I won the next two games 11/7 11/3. It was tight in the 4th game but I tried to force the game too much and hit a few unforced errors and Raneem won 6/11. I came out strong in the 5th gaining a lead of 9/2. I knew Raneem would not give in and I had to win the match instead of waiting for the Egyptian to hit an error, however, it was nerves again that made me play too passive and Raneem was very patient to get back to 8/9. I hit a good winning boast and the following rally hit a winning length to take the final game 11/8.

Tomorrow I play World Number 1, Nicol David in the quarter finals at 6.30pm, so it's a bit of R&R this evening so I can be on top of my game tomorrow night.

Kasey xx