David Beats Sobhy, Major Hong Kong Milestone Beckons by Howard Harding August 30, 2014
- Nicol David stands one match away from a remarkable tenth successive
title and a phenomenal 50th straight victory in the former British
colony after brushing aside US number one Amanda Sobhy in today's
semi-finals of the Women's Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong
Kong Open.
The world number one
from Malaysia beat eighth seed Sobhy 11-8, 11-4, 11-2 in just 27
minutes on the first day of action in the Women's Squash Association
World Series Gold event on an all-glass court erected in the Hong Kong
Park Sports Centre.
The win sees the 31-year-old into the 94th WSA World Tour final of her career.
"No doubt, she played
a strong first game," David (pictured above in action with Sobhy) told
www.squashsite.co.uk later. "We were both finding our feet and our
range on the court.
"Then it was just a
matter of putting the work in in the second and third games, and her
shots didn't come in as well and she missed a few shots she doesn't
usually, so I just had to put the pressure on.
"I'm just going to be
focusing on what I have to do. I just love playing here. It raises my
game and I always play my best squash. I'm just going to go all out and
leave it all out there."
David will now face
event giant-killer Nour El Tayeb, the 16th seed from Egypt who reached
her second successive surprise WSA World Series final after a dramatic
11-9, 10-12, 11-2, 12-10 triumph in 47 minutes over No2 seed Laura
Massaro, the reigning world champion from England.
El Tayeb marched into
the semis after consecutive upsets over fifth seed Low Wee Wern and No4
seed Alison Waters - then shocked world No2 Massaro for the second time
in ten days!
"I have no words to
describe how I feel at the moment," said the jubilant 21-year-old
Egyptian (pictured above in action with Massaro). "To beat Laura twice,
and to reach two huge finals, it's just unbelievable.
"I'm in the best form of my life. It's definitely the best two weeks of my life, for sure.
"I understand if I won
one match, but to back it up for two weeks, I really don't know how to
explain it. The furthest I was looking was the first round!"
RESULTS: Women's Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong
Semi-finals: [1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [8] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 11-8, 11-4, 11-2 (27m) [16] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [2] Laura Massaro (ENG) 11-9, 10-12, 11-2, 12-10 (47m)
