Miguel confirms his good form against Alan 3/0
[8] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 3-0 Alan Clyne (SCO) 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 (29m)
The h2h between the two is overwhelmingly in favour of the Colombian, 8/1 on the PSA tour. Last time they played was on the cold court of the San Francisco’s and it was a short 2/0 to Miguel
Today, I saw what Alan was trying to do, attacking a lot, taking the Colombian to the front as much as possible, then using height to try and twist/turn him. But the cold condition suit Miguel actually, who is not a natural attacker, but whose drop shots get sharper in these cold conditions!
Good effort from the Scot, taking risks (made 4 unforced errors in the 2nd alone), and although it didn’t pay off this time, proves that he is still improving things. Very entertaining match between two respectful and fair players.
Miguel (more to come)
I think it was a great match, Alan is a tough opponent, very strong physically, so I had to very all the time on my toes and very pro active today, trying to put as much pace as I can.
I haven’t had great results on this court, but I really want to do good here, it’s my favourite event of the tour, we are really treated so well, and playing on this indoor court pushes us to play our best…
I was confident today, I wanted to change my strategy a little bit and didn’t want to play long rallies with him. The last time I played him was in San Francisco and in the second game I was playing too defensively on the backhand side. But today I think it was a great performance for me, I’m very happy to win in three games.
This is a long tournament. It’s very important for the matches not to be too hard physically and mentally. It’s a long week and I’m going to have a day off tomorrow, however I am going to come down to practice and will try and keep working on those because the court is very dead, especially at the back corners.
I was just focusing on playing every day because the physical part I did at home, so I just needed to be playing again and competing on court. I would say I’m 85 per cent, 90 per cent now after my injury in the US Open, I think the rehab I had at home was very successful. I had my first match in Cairo and then I went to Alexandria to train. I think it was worth going there, I’ve started to be more confident on court, I worked on my footwork, my tactics and strategy and I think it worked.
I’m going to enjoy my day, watch some matches and prepare for my next match and I’m very grateful to be in the last 16 of a World Championships again.
