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Nicol David Revenge
Leads To Malaysian Double In Chennai
It took just 25
minutes for Malaysia's world number one Nicol David to re-establish her
authority in women's world squash when she beat England's Jenny Duncalf
in the final of the Chennai Open in India to win the $53,500
WISPA World Tour Gold title at the Indian Squash Academy in
Chennai - and avenge two recent defeats by her main Tour rival.
Duncalf, the world
No3 from Harrogate in Yorkshire, was unable to withstand the superior display of
David, the 26-year-old from Penang who has topped the women's world rankings
uninterrupted since August 2006.
The favourite kept
Duncalf pinned to the back before playing aggressive drops to the front. A
relieved David made short work of her 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 victory.
"Jenny has been
playing very well and I knew she would come out strong so I had to set my game
up well," said David. "I was pleased to have managed it.
"When I came here
for the Asian Juniors, squash in India was picking up - and now, nearly ten
years later, there is this amazing facility and some top men and women players,"
added the twice former world junior champion at the trophy presentations. "All
credit to you all, it has been fantastic."
Referring to the
match, a disconsolate Duncalf said: "From the first rally, when I smacked the
tin, from there I was making too many errors. I don't know why, I just felt
frustrated with myself for most of the match, but she played very consistently."
It was a
significant confidence-boosting win for David, who was making her maiden
appearance on the WISPA Tour this year since losing twice in succession to
Duncalf last November - in the semi-finals of the US Open in New York and
then the Qatar Classic in Doha.
The win takes
David's career Tour title total to 42. In a remarkable
run since the beginning of 2005, Nicol David has appeared in 52 WISPA World Tour
events, and claimed the titles in 39!
The final of the
men's $25,000 PSA World Tour event also produced a Malaysian success over
an English opponent when favourite Ong Beng Hee beat second seed
Jonathan Kemp.
The world No19 from
Penang dished out an impeccable error-free game in the climax of the Tamil Nadu
Government-sponsored championship notable, particularly, as he had survived a
116-minute five-game semi-final less than 24 hours earlier.
The top two seeds
traded point for point in the first game, but the Malaysian favourite showed
alacrity in mixing the pace of his shots. Kemp, the world No21 from
Wolverhampton who enjoys a fast-paced game, had difficulties in adjusting
himself to his opponent's tactics.
Ong Beng Hee, the
30-year-old former world No7, perhaps reserved his best for the final - and
finished the match with class, winning 14-12, 11-9, 11-9 in 47 minutes.
"Obviously, having
played for two hours yesterday I wanted to be as positive as I could be," said
the new men's champion afterwards. "He is very talented, one of the most gifted,
so I knew that it would be difficult.
"A few decisions
went my way, it was very close and maybe I was a little lucky, but I am really
pleased with this win."
The title triumph,
his first since claiming the Malaysian Open on home soil in July 2008,
takes Ong Beng Hee's career PSA Tour title haul to 13.
Chennai Open
Tournament Director Major Maniam was pleased with the event: "We were
absolutely delighted that we had the best women players that Chennai has ever
seen, and some top guys too. These women stars were so supportive and easy to
deal with and an inspiration to our girls.
"And, as a
Malaysian, I was so pleased to see a double by Nicol and Beng Hee - along with
the media exposure for our Saurav Ghosal and the event too."
David Sets Up
Duncalf Revenge Bid In Chennai
Malaysia's world
number one Nicol David will be after revenge when she faces Jenny
Duncalf in Sunday's final of the Chennai Open Squash Championships
after both players prevailed in the semi-finals of the $53,500 WISPA World
Tour Gold event at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai,
India.
It was in November
last year that England's Duncalf ended a sequence of 14 successive David defeats
over the previous seven years to beat the sport's most dominant player this
millennium twice in a row in the semi-finals of the US Open, then the
Qatar Classic in Doha, both of which Duncalf went on to win.
Both players are
beginning their 2010 campaigns in Chennai and both have reached the event
climax relatively untroubled. David, from Penang, was business-like in her
23-minute 11-2, 11-4, 11-4 win over seventh-seeded Australian Kasey Brown,
while Duncalf had an easy time beating surprise French opponent Camille Serme
11-6, 11-9, 11-8 in 30 minutes.
David is
celebrating her 57th WISPA Tour final, while Duncalf, the world No3 from
Harrogate, is marking her 13th, but looking for fourth Tour title in a row since
winning the Soho Square Championship in Egypt at the beginning of
November.
The final of the
men's $25,000 PSA World Tour event is also an Anglo/Malaysian affair
featuring the top two seeds but both favourite Ong Beng Hee and second
seed Jonathan Kemp were taken the full distance before making the
anticipated finale.
Left-hander Kemp
dashed hopes of an Indian finalist when he beat the nation's top-ranked player
Saurav Ghosal, the fourth seed, 13-15, 15-13, 11-9, 11-6 in 58 minutes to
make the 13th PSA Tour final of his career.
Ong Beng Hee
endured one of the longest matches of his life when he fought back from a game
down to overcome third-seeded Egyptian Mohd Ali Anwar Reda, a 20-year-old
from Cairo, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10 in 116 minutes.
Beng Hee is
celebrating the 21st Tour final of his career but looking to pick up his first
title since winning the Malaysian Open on home soil in July 2008.
Serme In Semi
After Chopping Grinham In Chennai
Rising French star
Camille Serme is celebrating her first appearance in the semi-finals of a
WISPA World Tour Gold event after upsetting third seed Rachael
Grinham, the former world number one from Australia, in today's (Friday)
quarter-finals of the $53,500 Chennai Open Squash Championships at the
Indian Squash Academy in Chennai, India.
The 20-year-old
from Creteil recovered from a game down to beat Grinham, the world No4, 4-11,
12-10, 11-3, 11-3 in 40 minutes thereby notching up her biggest scalp on the
Tour.
Serme, now the
French number one who boasts a career-high world ranking of 11, next meets
England's Jenny Duncalf for a place in the final.
Duncalf, the world
No3 from Harrogate, took 43 minutes to resist a spirited attack from England
team-mate Laura Massaro, ultimately beating the fifth seed 12-10,
11-9, 11-9.
The other women's
semi-final will see event favourite Nicol David line up against Kasey
Brown, the No7 seed from Australia.
Nicol David, the
world number one from Malaysia who is making her 2010 Tour debut in Chennai,
trailed 2-6 in the third game against Mexican opponent Samantha Teran,
but raised her game to beat the eighth seed 11-9, 11-4, 12-10.
The match between
Brown and unseeded New Zealander Jaclyn Hawkes turned out to be a
closely-contested encounter until the fourth game when the Aussie, ranked seven
places higher than the Kiwi, managed to improve from a 4-1 situation to win the
match 11-6, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4 after 69 minutes.
Indian hopes are
alive and well in the men's $25,000 PSA World Tour event where fourth
seed Saurav Ghosal, playing in his home city, beat England's No6 seed
Chris Simpson 11-7, 11-7, 11-13, 11-7 in 64 minutes.
"The 23-year-old
world No29 was looking to achieve a straight forward 3/0 win," said event
spokesman Cyrus Poncha. "And - except in the third game, where Simpson
managed to get into the game right from beginning, coming up with winners after
rallies to match point for point - Ghosal led throughout in the remaining three
games.
"The third game was
evenly matched and the rivals were stuck at 9-9 for sometime before Ghosal broke
the ice leading 10-9 and perhaps was managing to stay in the court despite pain
on his back. Here, Simpson made it 11-10 with a boast from the back and then
claimed the remaining two points for the game."
Ghosal will now
face Jonathan Kemp, the second seed who ended English compatriot
Laurence Delasaux's run by beating the unseeded 24-year-old 11-9, 11-4,
11-7.
Top seed Ong
Beng Hee defeated Yann Perrin, the No7 seed from France, 11-5, 11-8,
11-8 in 41 minutes to set up a meeting in the other semi-final with Mohd Ali
Anwar Reda. The third seed from Egypt dropped the first game against eighth
seed Alan Clyne but went on to beat the Scot 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 in 61
minutes.
Nicol David Gets
2010 Campaign Underway In Chennai
World number one
Nicol David made an impressive start to her 2010 WISPA World Tour
campaign at the Chennai Open Squash Championships but the Malaysian
disappointed the local crowd at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai
by beating Indias second best woman player Dipika Pallikal in straight
games in the opening round of the $53,500 WISPA Gold event.
Seeded to win the
42nd Tour event of her career, David got in to her rhythm swiftly and claimed
the first game in just six minutes. After assessing her opponent in this way,
the 26-year-old from Penang was then seen to be much relaxed. Though David took
the second game at the expense of three more points, the favourite was not
unduly worried even when Pallikal ran up a 4-0 lead in the third game.
But David tightened
up her game and closed out the match 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 after 30 minutes to set up
a quarter-final clash with close friend Samantha Teran. The
eighth-seeded Mexican fought off a determined attack by Donna Urquhart to
beat the Australian qualifier 11-3, 3-11, 11-3, 11-4.
New Zealander
Jaclyn Hawkes made amends for a premature exit in last month's Creteil
International Open in France by producing the women's event's only upset
defeating Ireland's No4 seed Madeline Perry, the world No7, 11-8, 11-4,
11-9.
The unseeded
27-year-old from Auckland, ranked ten places below Perry in the March WISPA
world list, now faces Kasey Brown, the No7 seed from Australia who
recovered from a game down to beat India's top-ranked player Joshna Chinappa
8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5.
A Malaysian is also
expected to lift the men's $25,000 PSA World Tour event title but
Ong Beng Hee was taken the full distance by Ivan Yuen before
overcoming his compatriot 11-6, 3-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-3 in 50 minutes to claim
his anticipated place in the last eight.
The Penang-born
30-year-old will now face Frenchman Yann Perrin after the No7 seed
battled for 70 minutes to quash Malaysian Muhd Asyraf Azan 11-6, 6-11,
11-9, 11-6.
And Chennai also
provided the latest opportunity for England's Laurence Delasaux to show
off his prowess when he upset fifth-seeded South African Stephen Coppinger
11-7, 13-11, 11-6 to become the only unseeded player in the men's
quarter-finals.
Delasaux - who
rejoined the PSA Tour last year after a break of more than two years, since when
he has picked up three titles and established a new career-high world No71
ranking will now meet compatriot Jonathan Kemp, the No2 seed from
Halifax who ousted Danish qualifier Kristian Frost Olesen 11-8, 11-4,
11-4.
In the first match
of the day, Ritwik Bhattacharya of India failed to maintain the promise
of his play in the first game in which he led 5-1 before being caught by his
tail by Scotland's eighth seed Alan Clyne.
"Bhattacharya had
his chances on a number of occasions but failed to cash in on them and was ruing
every point that he lost on his committing silly errors," said event spokesman
Cyrus Poncha. "The other good patch of his game today was claiming the
third game and taking the last two points with superb winners."
However, world No69
Clyne recovered well to beat Bhattacharya, ranked 115, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9.
Fourth-seeded
Saurav Ghosal ensured Indian interest in the quarter-finals with a straight
games win over compatriot Harinder Pal Sandhu 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 in 40
minutes. But Siddharth Suchde, a qualifier from Mumbai, was pipped in
the fifth game by Chris Simpson, the sixth seed from England.
Simpson twice led,
but Sandhu came back on both occasions to level the match. But the Englishman
showed his experience in the decider to win 14-12, 3-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-7 after
95 minutes.
Dipika Leads
Indian Charge In Chennai
Indias second best
woman squash star Dipika Pallikal hogged the limelight with a clinical
upset over higher-ranked Irish opponent Aisling Blake to commence a
fruitful day for home grown men and women in the final qualifying matches of the
PSA and WISPA Chennai Open Squash Championships at the Indian
Squash Academy in Chennai.
Following her 11-8,
11-6, 11-5 victory in 31 minutes over Blake, ranked 24 places higher, Pallikal
has a tough task ahead since being drawn to meet top seed Nicol David,
the world number one from Malaysia, in the main draw of the $53,500 women's
WISPA World Tour Gold event the first of the year that begins tomorrow.
David, playing in
her first Tour event of the year, will be joined in the main draw by two further
Malaysian qualifiers, Low Wee Wern and Delia Arnold Wern
despatching higher-ranked compatriot Sharon Wee in straight games.
England's Alison
Waters, the world No5 from London, has been forced to withdraw from the
event, suffering with tendonitis in her Achilles.
In the final
qualifying round of the men's $25,000 PSA World Tour event, Gaurav
Nandrajog (ranked 174) was the lone local player among four Indians on view
to bite the dust - going down fighting to higher-ranked Kristian Frost Olesen
(107) of Denmark 11-9, 9-11, 6-11, 8-11 in a marathon 73 minutes.
But both Ritwik
Bhattacharya, from Mumbai, and Harinder Pal Sandhu, from Chandigarn,
both prevailed in straightforward fashion, while Mumbai-born Siddharth Suchde
had an easy time against compatriot Vikas Jangra winning 11-7, 11-1, 11-5
in 30 minutes.
The men's title is
also expected to be won by a Malaysian, with Penang-born top seed Ong Beng
Hee lining up in the main draw against compatriot Ivan Yuen. Indian
interest is led by Saurav Ghosal, the No4 seed from Chennai.
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