Winning The Weymuller
by Nick-at-Will

October 7, 2013 - Much has already been written about the (just concluded) WSA $50,000 2013 Carol Weymuller Squash Open. But just what did it take for Nicol David, the world's #1 squash player and seven-time world champion have to do to win this $50,000 event!?

Nicol seems to be back playing the best squash of her career, that being somewhat marred (never relinquishing her #1 world ranking) by nearly two years of her unselfish and nearly total dedication to promoting the 2020 Squash Bid campaign, hopeful to have our great game become part of the Olympic Games, (although never admitting it) taking valuable time, focus and energy away from her own personal training and playing regimen.

Not only has Nicol returned to her winning ways, (going entirely undefeated in the 2008 season - and only relinquishing one event in the 2010-11 season), but she has continued (along with her coaches and trainers) to search for ways to not only maintain, but improve her game! Is that possible? Well...let's take a look at some of the statistics on Nicol's road to "Winning The Weymuller."

In her first main draw match with world #25 Donna Urquhart, which she won three straight in 27 minutes, 11-8, 11-5, 11-4, Nicol gave up a total of only 17 points, just over 5 points per game on average. And...in the second game of that much, she had a 9-point run from 2-5 down to win 11-5!

In the quarters, against world #17 Dipika Pallikal, the shortest of her first three matches, it took only 22 minutes for the win. In this one, Dipika was only able to score a total of 14 points, less than 5 points per game on average. Nicol also had runs of 7 and 9 points in game two and three respectively in that match.

The longest match of the the first three (25 minutes) was the semi's against the very talented Raneem El Weleily of Egypt, the #3 player in the world. The first game was even until at 7 all, but Raneem served the ball out, then hit the tin - two crucial errors at this stage of the game! This gave Nicol the lead at 10-8, closing it out 11-8! The second game started out even enough, with three "lets" and three "tins" in the mix to 3 all. Another couple of tins by Raneem brought it to 7-4 for Nicol, 5 and 6-7 for Raneem. Then...Nicol ran off three straight points taking it to 10-6. One more point for Raneem and it was all over, game to Nicol 11-7! The third and final game was fairly even until at 4-5, Nicol ran off 5 straight points, making it match ball. Once again, it was an error by Raneem that clinched the match for Nicol, 11-4!

And now...the final against the story-book girl from France, #10 in the world, Camille Serme who earlier upset the #4 seed Alison Waters in the opening round in four games, then going on to beat the #7 seed Jenny Duncalf three straight! It would not have been surprising to see her luck run out in the semi's, meeting the #2 player in the world and seeded two, Laura Massaro. But that was not to be the case! Camille came out strong in the first, winning that very close game 12-10. She never looked back, playing error-less squash and winning the next two games 11-6 and 11-4! This was a disappointing outing for Laura, but a third great upset win in a row for the young 24 year-old Camille.

The Nicol David / Camille Serme finals match turned out to be the longest of the tournament, but not too long actually...just 35 minutes of actual playing time! And...if it weren't for that first 15 minute game, the match may have been a lot shorter! The first game was plagued with errors from both players...14 tins, a stroke and a ball out. Nicol pulled this one out, 12-10! The second game lasted a total of 10 minutes! After Camille scored the first point on Nicol's service, there was but one additional change of service before Nicol ran out 10 straight points to win the game, 11/2! The third game was even shorter, Camille only managing to serve five times. Again, Nicol had two runs of 4 points each, one hand out, back in and closed it out, scoring the last point with a deft back-hand cross-court drop close to the nick...11-5!

During the four matches and 12 twelve games (no losses) Nicol played, she scored a total of 133 points to her four opponent's 67 points, an average of only 5.5 points per game against her! Impressive...we think so!

So there it was, another masterful performance from the undisputed seven-time world champion and #1 women's player in the world for over seven years...arguably the best women's professional squash-player EVER in this modern day of women's squash. Now that Nicol is able to focus all her attention on her own training and game...who knows how long she can keep it going! Our guess is...for quite some time yet! Now...it's off to the 2013 U.S. Squash Open! As Nicol told us today, "Will be bringing this forward the best that I can towards the US Open."