Hansen Completes Twelfth Title Against Surprise Qualifier
Line Hansen
clinched her 12th WSA World Tour title today as the Danish player won
the NSC Series No1 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Seeded first for the event at the
National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil, Hansen dispatched Australian
TayloNr Flavell in straight games in the first round of the WSA
Tour 5 competition, before making similar work of Salma Nassar of
Egypt in the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere in the opening rounds, local
qualifier Rachel Arnold stunned onlookers by defeating compatriot
and No.2 seed Siti Munriah Jusoh in three games. The 16-year-old
from Ampang, Malaysia won two tiebreak games against the world No.44, to
propel the teen into a quarter-final clash with sixth seed Zulhijjah
Binti Azan.
The surprises kept coming for Arnold
however, who again dismissed the higher ranked player in four games to
set up an incredible semi-final with third seed Lisa Camilleri of
Australia.
Whilst Hansen continued her run of
straight games victories by dismissing Nouran El Torky in
33-minutes, Arnold incredibly followed suit by dispatching her opponent,
the former world No.28 in a similar fashion to reach her first ever WSA
World Tour final.
Hansen, in contrast, playing her 20th
career final, used her experience to establish a quick lead over the
teenager. The Dane claimed the first game by a comfortable five-point
margin, perhaps a sign of early nerves from her young opponent, but a
closer second game showed the Malaysian quickly acclimatising to the
situation.
Arnold just missed out on the second
game, but stormed back to make her mark on the final with a efficient
display to put Hansen on the back foot. An 11-5 win put the world
No.115 back into the contest and set up for a nervy fourth game for the
pair. Another narrow game ensued, but Hansen’s experience ultimately
proved too much for the qualifying teenager, and the Danish
international finished off the contest to claim her 12th WSA World Tour
title, her first since winning back-to-back titles in Australia in 2012.
