Nicol David Advances To British Open Quarters by Scarlett Smith
photo britishopensquash.net
May 22, 2013 - Malaysian squash sensation Nicol David was clinical in her match against England’s Sarah Kippax.
The world no.1 was straight out of the blocks in the opening match
sweeping Sarah aside 11/2. However the unseeded English woman
fought back well in the second and was unlucky to go down 14/12.
Kippax even had game ball at 11/10 but was unable to convert and David
took full advantage to keep the momentum into the third and book her
quarter final place where she’ll meet today’s earlier winner Joelle
King.
A smiling David told the crowd she was excited to be here and playing for the first time in a football stadium.
“All the players are excited to be here, Sarah had home crowd advantage
and she was feeding off the crowd so I had to make sure I took that
second game off her. Every round is tough, the level just goes up and
up,” she added.
Australia's Kasey Brown clawed back a two game deficit to stop the in-form Sarah-Jane Perry.
England's up and coming star looked like she was going to despatch yet
another seed after yesterday’s win against Low Wee Wern as she went two
games up but Brown had other ideas.
The Australian bounced back to turn the match around to 2-2. It
was too close to call in the fifth and as the pressure mounted the
rallies became more frantic, it was quite fitting that the match should
end on a tie-break with Kasey Brown sneaking a 12/10 win to secure the
match.
I've never played in a stadium before and it's fantastic, I love the
name of it! The crowd was brilliant fantastic to see so many children
here.”
What looked like a whitewash victory for world number four women’s seed
Alison Waters turned into a protracted battle after a strong mid-match
fight back from Australia’s Rachael Grinham.
But the plucky Aussie had different ideas and launched a valiant fight back to take the match into a deciding fifth game.
Waters regained her focus and brought Grinham’s hopes crashing down as
the Brit took the game 11-4 and the match 3-2, in 42 minutes.
After the match Waters said: “The British Open is the one everyone wants to win, playing at home is always extra special.”
Women's Round Two (top):
[1] Nicol David (Mas) 3-0 Sarah Kippax (Eng) 11/2, 14/12, 11/2 (35m)
[6] Joelle King (Nzl) 3-0 [13] Annie Au (Hkg) 11/5, 11/7, 11/5 (27m)
[12] Kasey Brown (Aus) 3-2 Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 8/11, 9/11, 12/10, 11/7, 12/10 (61m)
[4] Alison Waters (Eng) 3-2 [16] Rachael Grinham (Aus) 11/2, 11/4, 8/11, 7/11, 11/4 (42m)
