First up were LJ and Bart, LJ did what he had to do. It was a tough 3-0 after 50 minutes, but the result was the most important. Bart on the court next door started strong, but could not sustain. A bit similar to yesterday, he lost 3-0.

After LJ’s match Piëdro went in court to play Rasmus Nielsen. After winning a deciding fifth game yesterday, unfortunately today Pië could not “pull to the longest end”, 2-3. My match started similar to yesterday, but with good coaching and extra motivation from Lucas I could recover well after losing the first game. I won 3-1 in a tough battle.

Tonight we play England at 18:15, also on traditional courts, so no live streaming.

LJ went on court after Pië, he had to play Simon Rösner who has beaten LJ the last few times. LJ gave it his all, but after a crucial second game, which he lost, he could not recover and lost the match 3-0.

I was up next playing Jens Schoor. Jens played very well. It felt like I was never in the match, lost the first game in no time, the second was a bit better but not much and the third was similar to the second. Not a good performance from me, very disappointed obviously.

Last on court was Bart Ravelli versus André Haschker. Bart lost 3-0, he made to many errors each game which André took full advantage of. Bart was disappointed with his match, hopefully he can set things straight in his next match!

Not a good start to the event. Tomorrow we will play Denmark and England. A very important day for us, especially the match versus Denmark. The match against Denmark will start at 11:30, no live streaming for this match unfortunately.

Due to an amended draw I got a new opponent, a young Egyptian. From the moment ‘GO’ he started attacking, like many Egyptian players do. It is difficult not to get drawn into this type of game, which I quite like actually. The first game was close, I got to a 8-6 lead, but somehow he got away with the game, taking it 11-8. The second I got a little bit more control of his game, but still had to work really hard to win it, 11-9. The third I started poorly, hitting to much in the middle or to quickly to the front, which is lethal against an attacking player like this. He won the game 11-6. The fourth game was really close again, unfortunately I just could not pull it towards me. Losing the game and so the match. Final score after 48 minutes: 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 9-11.

Although I lost this match, I think there were a lot of things in my game which went really well. Of course a lot to work on, but I like to see the positive side of things! Back to training and prepare for next weeks European Team Championships in Nürnberg.

I am staying with Orla and Milou in the house of the uncle and aunt of Orla. They will both play qualification tomorrow as well. For now rest and get ready for tomorrow’s match.

Thank you to Nils and Joël for making it possible to post via the Ipad!

3. David Kandra vs. Lucas Buit
1. LJ Anjema vs. Simon Roesner
2. Sebastiaan Weenink vs. Kashif Shuja

This all will be very close matches, to tough to call I think. May the best team win…

Did not play that bad, but in the end he was just a little to strong. First game was tight, he took an early 6-3 lead, then he hit a few errors. In the end of the game I had game ball at 10-9, he came back and eventually won the game 13-11.
In the second game he again took a lead, this time he was 6-2 up, I fought back, but not good enough. Lost the second game 11-8.
In the third I took a 7-3 lead, but he this time he fought back. At 9-9 we played some hard rallies which Joe won eventually, him winning the third game and so the match 13-11, 11-8, 11-9.

Partly happy with my performance, I think in patches I played some good squash. I recorded the match so good to see what went well and where I have to work on. It has been a while since I recorded a match, good to see if the things I have been working on are actually improving in my match.

One more day here in Galway before I fly home on Saturday, it is a very nice city, which as you can see in the picture, is located near the sea. See how Dylan does tomorrow, he will now face Joe, after winning his first round match in straight games.

I took my flight as planned at 8:45 PM to Dublin, I arrived in Dublin at 9:00 PM local time. From the Dublin Airport I took a three hour bus to Galway which departed at 10:15 PM. So I arrived at a bus station in Galway at around 1:15 AM, from the bus station I shared a taxi  to my hotel with David Haley, a squash player from Wales, who appeared to be in the bus as well.

In the hotel Carlos Cornes and Leandro Romiglo should already be asleep as they should have arrived earlier that day. I tried to open the door, appeared to be locked, knocked on the door, nobody answered, knocked again, still nothing. Tried to open the door again, gave it a little push and it appeared not to be locked at all, I was in! But, nobody was in the room, where were Carlos and Leandro?! I walked back to the reception, asked if they even had checked in, they had not. I did not have a phone number, but the receptionist did, called Carlos, hoping it was his mobile number and not his home number, it was about 1:45 AM at the time. Luckily Carlos picked up his phone and explained to me that why he was not in the hotel, his flight got cancelled because of a strike in France, where his connection flight was. They were not coming at all. Which meant I had to check out the next day because a triple room alone is a bit expensive.

So this morning I had a great Irish breakfast, checked out of the hotel and walked to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club, a twenty minute walk with luggage. Arrived at the club, where Nathan Lake and Mark Fuller were getting ready to have a warming-up hit for there matches later today. Told them about the Carlos and Leandro, and was wondering if there would be a redraw. There was internet in the club so I checked my email, and yes, a redraw. Nothing had changed for me though, I still had a ‘bye’.

Now I had to organize a new place to stay, so I contacted Dylan Bennett, who I shared rooms with last week in Geneva. He said it would be fine if I could split his triple room to two double rooms. So walked to the B&B, which was next door luckily, to see if this was possible, and it was. While I was waiting for the room to be cleaned David Haley came downstairs, we got to chat and he told me there was another redraw and that I am now in the main draw. I thought he was taking the piss, but as it appeared he was not. Davide Bianchetti pulled out, which means I now play on April 5^th against Joe Lee at 5:00 PM. Well this is of course if everything is going according to plan…

Dylan won his quarter final 3-2, 11-9 in the fifth and will play Lucas tonight. Let’s see what he does!

Of course I am happy to win, but the lesson of this match is consistency. To many patches where I get off the game plan. Something I can not afford to do tomorrow against Lucas Serme who I played in August 2011. That time I won 3-1, but have to be on my best to beat him again tomorrow.

I wish my Belgium league team Piramid the best of luck tomorrow in the play-off final. Unfortunately I can not be there, but also without me they have chance to win! Kom op bazen!

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