[7] Heston Malik (ENG) 3-1 [14] Jake Sim-Baskar (ENG) 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-9 (57m)
LaidBack Malik.
That’s my new name for young Heston Malik, one of the Malik Triplets, 19 years old. His brother, Bailey, is already in the main draw as he qualified last year. A thought for Sumner, who was buried 7 years ago on Sunday. Never forgotten.
I rarely saw a player that relaxed on court, bless Heston. Whatever Jake was throwing at him, and that was a lot, he only raised his eye brow to mention to the ref that “it was a stroke”, and was reminded that the ref didn’t need his opinion to make up his mind. That’s the only time we heard his voice, and he never showed any sign of frustration, and didn’t seem to be that bothered by the victory either! BLesssssss.
A very good match, close as possible, with three games going to 11/9, Jake taking a bit of time of in the 3rd to recover from the hard work produced in the first two – let’s not forget that he played another match this morning. Long games too, 15m, 13m, 8m, 15m again.
How Heston won that last game, making 6 unforced errors, while his opponent only made one… Heston was up 3/0, maybe relaxed a bit, good effort from Jake, 4/4, 5/5, 8/8… Match ball, 10/8 after a stroke for descent – Jake had been warned for descent in a couple of rallies before, and got himself down match ball 10/8.
“Reset”, went someone in the crowd, “it’s all in the past”.
It worked. Jake got on a very long rally, and pushed Heston to make the error, but the LaidBack Malik was able to close the last rally rather quickly, 11/9. Good battle that.
Heston :
I’m happy to get through, considering I didn’t play that well.
Jake played really well, we trained together pretty much every day, we know each other’s game so it was a tough match.
Happy to get through to the main draw, first time, and playing a very experienced player, Mohamed Elshorbagy.
It’s really good to be part of a family like ours, the support we get constantly is really good, it just drives us to keep going. I’m happy to be a part of it.
I could have played a better length shots, I wasn’t actually using the height on the front wall enough. So following through with more height, getting the ball in deep first, and then going for my shots at the end. I know I lack a bit of volleying in the match, but then again, I did my best to get through.
Laid back me? Well, I never used to be like that to be honest, what changed? I don’t have a clue. I’m just trying to find a balance between being relaxed and too tense, I’m experimenting. Trying my best…
