Shackleton makes winning start to Paralympic singles campaign
Megan Shackleton started her Paralympic singles campaign with a 3-0 win against Ghaliah Alanazi from Saudi Arabia, silver medallist in the Al Watani Para Open earlier this year. After taking the first two sets 11-4 11-5 she had to show her fighting qualities in the third set before taking it 11-9 to give the ParalympicsGB team a perfect start to the singles events.
“I was looking forward to getting out there again after my doubles,” said Shackleton. “This is my first event ever playing straight knockout so I was a little bit nervous going into it but I was really proud of how I managed to commit to my game and start as I mean to go on. There were some tricky moments in the last set, but I held my nerve and I think that will help me going into the quarterfinal.”
She will now play the number one seed and former World and Paralympic champion Borislava Peric-Rankovic in the quarterfinal on Wednesday. The pair last met in the Slovenia Open in May when Shackleton came agonisingly close to a first win against the legendary Serbian, holding a match point in the fourth set before losing 11-8 in the fifth.
“That gives me good confidence going into the match,” she said. “I showed in Slovenia that I’m right up there with her and I think on the day I demonstrated that I could have maybe taken that match. Hopefully in a few days’ time that is the case. She’s a great player and I’m well aware that I’m going to have to bring a really good game to the table but I’m excited. It’s my first quarterfinal at a Paralympic Games and I’m feeling in good shape.
“I feel the expectation because I believe I can get through the quarterfinals. I’ve got a lot of respect for Peric and she’s a fantastic player so I know it will take a lot and I’ll have to bring my best game but I’m excited to get out there and fight for a medal.”
World champion Will Bayley begins his quest for a second men’s class 7 Paralympic title tomorrow against Stephane Messi, the former Paralympic champion from France, in the last 16. Also in action will be Paul Karabardak, Martin Perry (men’s class 6), Billy Shilton and Aaron McKibbin (men’s class 8).
Karabardak faces the World number one and two-time former World and Paralympic champion Peter Rosenmeier from Denmark in the last 16 while Perry takes on the reigning Paralympic champion Ian Seidenfeld from USA.
Shilton will play the winner of the R32 match between Seyed Hosseini Pour from the Refugee Paralympic Team and Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri from Thailand and McKibbin will play either Richard Csejtey from Slovakia or the Australian Nathan Pellissier.
Rio 2016 Paralympic champion Rob Davies, Tom Matthews (men’s class 1) and Joshua Stacey (men’s class 9) play their first matches on Tuesday while women’s class 14 doubles bronze medallists Fliss Pickard (women’s class 6) and Bly Twomey (women’s class 7) start their bids for singles medals on Wednesday.
Photo by Michael Loveder