R1: Melissa against strong young Ruqayya

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Melissa Alves (Fra) 3-0 [wc] Ruqayya Salem (Egy) 13-11, 11-6, 11-7 (35m)

French No.1 Melissa Alves overcame an impressive showing from 16-year-old Wildcard Ruqayya Salem to advance to the second round in Cairo.

Salem, runner-up in the U17 British Junior Open earlier this year, started strongly, hitting the ball cleanly into the back corners and troubling her more experienced opponent.

However, when well placed at 10-8 up in the first, the errors crept into Salem’s game, with a couple of costly strokes allowing Alves a route back to take the opening game, which she eventually won by a 13-11 scoreline.

World No.20 Alves started the second where she left off from the first, upping her accuracy levels and not offering Salem a route into the game with any loose play.

The 31-year-old doubled her advantage and managed to keep herself ahead on the scoreboard throughout a well-contested 11-7 third game.

Melissa : “The goal for this season for me was to win tournaments, so I decided to play a few more Copper events to get some wins and confidence in my game.

“I’m excited that I could get a good win today, it wasn’t easy conditions, especially against someone I haven’t played before. I found a couple of matches of hers on YouTube, but that’s it, so I’m happy with the win.

“The motivation for me is to just get better every tournament, every day, actually. My family came all the way here this week to watch me play, so that was a big motivation to me.”