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Confident Queen's Return For World Champion David
Reigning World Series Finals champion Nicol David made an
untroubled return to Queen’s Club in London, with a strong win on
day one of the ATCO World Series Finals.
Featuring the eight most successful World Series competitors from 2012,
the World Series Finals splits the players in to two round-robin pools,
with the top two from each group progressing to Saturday’s semi-finals.
World No.1 Nicol David moved past Annie Au of Hong Kong in
straight games, and will face Englishwoman Laura Massaro in the
second day of pool matches. David seemed a dominant mood from the start
of the match, and the Malaysian wasted no time in launching herself to a
strong lead. There were very few rallies throughout the contest, as
both players sought early winners from hard-hitting play. David was
always ahead and rarely looked troubled, and the pace of the contest
became too much for Au to cope with as David began the defence of her
title with a comfortable win.
Massaro, the world No.3, got off to a good start against experienced
Dutch international Natalie Grinham. She claimed a
straight-forward victory in the best-of-three contest, closing out the
competitive Grinham, and whilst the game scores were close, the
Englishwoman rarely looked like giving anything away. She led 7-2 in
the first game, and 8-0 in the second as Grinham’s input came too late
to have any serious positive effect on the tie.
In
Pool B, audiences were treated to a surprise result from home interest Jenny
Duncalf. The Harrogate-based Englishwoman got off to a great start
against second seed Raneem El Weleily, leading throughout the
first game and keeping ahead of the Egyptian until game-ball. Weleily
seemed to focus at this point, and began a more thoughtful attacking
approach, chipping away at the three game-balls and took five
consecutive points to win the first game.
Weleily returned to court having seemingly reverted back to her
error-prone first game pattern. Despite being handed numerous points,
Duncalf was still taking her own chances well, and forged a strong
four-point lead which she held throughout the mid-stages of the game.
The Egyptian focus again, tightening her length and seemed more willing
to rally, but the damage was done and she was unable to force another
comeback.
Duncalf continued strongly, and wasted no time in extending a lead in
the deciding game of the contest. The world No.8 picked her chances
well, waiting for the right opportunity to mount an attack on her
opponent and with a combination of patient and attacking play,
established another promising lead. Weleily’s usual style of attack was
often error-prone, and Duncalf’s length did enough to force extra errors
from the world No.2 and she took the final game to claim an unfancied
win.
Duncalf was pleased with her win after the game. She said:“ It wasn’t
easy dropping the first at game-ball, but there was always another game
after missing out on that. I had the same belief at 10-7 in the second
game. I’ve had a bit of a bug over new year, but I didn’t want to miss
out on this event. The court is lovely, and takes a shot well. There
aren’t too many long, gruelling, bouncy rallies so it’s good to move on
today!”
Camille Serme wasn’t expecting to make the cut for the World
Series Finals this year, until she reached the final of the Hong Kong
Open in December. She played teenage prodigy Nour El Sherbini in
the second Pool B match, which began as an even contest. Serme was
finding a good length but the talented 17-year-old kept herself in the
game and forced errors from the Frenchwoman. The more experienced Serme
had the edge in the first game, volleying well and closed out a narrow
first game win.
The world No.9 carried her form into the second game, where she
established a good lead, before a lapse in concentration allowed the
Egyptian back into the game. Serme refocused to extend her lead, and
thought she’d won after claiming a Sherbini counter-drop had hit the
tin. The referees called a let-ball however, and the teen was allowed
another opportunity to salvage the match. Sherbini closed the gap to
force the tie-break but not to be deterred, Serme finished of the
contest with a backhand cross-court volleydrop winner to get her second
World Series Finals off to the best possible start.
Wednesday - results:
Pool
A: Laura Massaro bt Natalie Grinham 11-8, 11-8
Pool
A: Nicol David bt Annie Au 11-7, 11-4
Pool
B: Jenny Duncalf bt Raneem El Weleily 10-12, 11-8, 11-8
Pool
B: Camille Serme bt Nour El Sherbini 11-9, 12-10
Thursday - fixtures:
1.00pm
Annie Au v Natalie Grinham
1.45pm
Nicol David v Laura Massaro
3.00pm
Raneem El Weleily v Nour El Sherbini
3.45pm
Jenny Duncalf v Camille Serme
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