Laura Massaro Beats Nicol David To Win Emotional British Open Final by Scarlett Smith
photos courtesy britishopensquash.net
May 26, 2013
- Jubilant scenes were witnessed at Hull’s KC Stadium today (Sunday,
May 26th) for the second time in two months as a English player won the
Allam British Open women’s final for the first time since 1991.
Hot on the heels of the Tiger’s historic promotion to football’s top
flight, Preston-based world number two Laura Massaro defied the odds to
beat favourite Malaysian Nicol David 3-1 (11/4, 3/11, 12/10, 11/7) in
the most tensely contested match of the tournament.
The British player looked in determined and aggressive form in the
first game dominating the centre of the court and forcing David to do
all the work. The Malaysian was unable to find any form as Massaro
stormed to an 11-4 victory.
But the second game saw their roles reversed and it was David’s turn to
dominate with some hard, precise hitting to steal the game 11-3 and
level the match one all.
The third game became a drawn out battle, each player in the early
stages unable to break free from the other as they matched each other
point for point, shot for shot. But David began slowly to edge ahead
taking the match to 6-3 and then to 10-7.
But Massaro fought back valiantly and refused to accept defeat. She
leveled the game 10 all and to the delight of the near 1,000 strong
crowd took game 12-10 and go 2-1 up.
She kept her form in a nail biting fourth game, leading from the early stages to finally take the game 11-7 and the match 3-1.
Speaking after her historic win an emotional Massaro said it had been an amazing experience.
She said: “The British Open is the first tournament I watched growing
up and I will always remember my coach when I first turned full time
saying one day you will be sitting in the final. I thought ‘yeah right’.
“So it is absolutely amazing that it came true. Being the first Britain to win it in a few years makes it even more special.”
She praised the crowd at the KC Stadium for their support throughout
the final match, adding she ‘wished I could take you with me on tour’.
Massaro added: “I thought I played amazingly well in the first game and
she (David) played amazingly well in the second game. It was a really
close match. From about the eighth point in the last game I was just
thinking ‘don’t mess it up’”
David praised Massaro saying she deserved the win: “I was just watching
what Laura was doing instead of my own game and she played well.
“She was finding the court better than me and getting to everything. She didn’t make any mistakes. She deserves to win.”
