David Survives Worlds' 5-Game Quarterfinal, El Sherbini Through by Howard Harding March 21, 2014
- Home favourite Nicol David survived a mighty scare against France's
Camille Serme in today's quarter-finals of the Penang CIMB Women's
World Squash Championship - but the world number one did just enough to
scrape through to the last four of the premier Women's Squash
Association (WSA) event at the SPICE Arena in Penang, Malaysia.
The seven-time world
champion and Penang's own star found herself on the back foot early on
against world No6 Serme, but recovered to win 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 6-11,
11-4 in 76 minutes.
David (pictured above
in action with Serme) toiled in the first game as Serme gained the
upper hand but regained her composure to move 2/1 ahead after winning
the second and third games by identical scores.
But Serme - who has
never beaten Nicol in 12 previous WSA meetings, and has never before
taken more than two games off the Malaysian - proved that she was far
from done by grittily taking the fourth.
Nicol however upped
the pace in the decider as Serme ran out of ideas, sealing her sixth
successive semi-final appearance at the worlds since 2008.
"You train for moments
like this and you have to expect anything," said 30-year-old David.
"Camille has beaten so many top players and she just came at me.
"I didn't want to go five, but sometimes it happens and I managed to dig deep and come through."
Malaysian interest in
the 29th championships was whittled down to just Nicol, however, after
world No7 Low Wee Wern squandered four match balls in the fourth game
to lose 14-12, 6-11, 11-6, 11-13, 7-11 to world No2 Laura Massaro of
England.
"It's a bit hard to
lose in Penang," said the Malaysian and Penang number two. "But I
really gave it everything I had," said Wee Wern after her fourth
successive appearance in the quarter-finals.
"I had my chances in
the fourth game, but Laura used all her experience and made the better
play on the crucial points. That's something that I have to learn."
Massaro (pictured above with Wee Wern) meanwhile gave credit to Wee Wern for pushing her to the limits.
"This was definitely
Wee Wern's best showing against me as she put me under so much
pressure. It's a sign of how much she's improved - but I'm proud of
myself for pulling through," said the England number one.
Massaro's victory took
105 minutes - making it not only the longest match of her career, but
also the longest match on the WSA World Tour for three years, and the
second longest match in the 35-year history of the world championships
(the longest on record being in 1981, in the 'hand-in-hand-out'
nine-points-per-game era).
Meanwhile, a further
record was set when Egypt's unseeded Nour El Sherbini becoming the
youngest ever semi-finalist at 18 - after upsetting world No5 Joelle
King 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 11-6.
World No3 Raneem El
Welily then made it a first for Egypt after surviving a solid challenge
from Ireland's experienced Madeline Perry, winning 10-12, 14-12, 11-3,
7-11, 11-7, to confirm two Egyptian semi-finalists for the first time.
"The pace of the match
was really fast although I'm really happy to be in the semis," said
25-year-old El Welily, a semi-finalist for the second year in a row.
"It's also really
great for Egypt, to have Sherbini in the top four too. She's the
youngest ever in the worlds semis, and now it's a record for us to have
two semi-finalists!
"But I definitely need
to be more consistent, more relaxed and get a feel of the game in my
next match," said Welily, who will meet Massaro next.
After her historic
triumph, El Sherbini (pictured above in Penang action) told her
Facebook fans: "So happy to be in Semi Final of the Women World Open
for the first time in my career after beating Joelle 3/1 in the
quarters - and to be the youngest ever to reach the World Championship
semi finals.
"It was an amazing
match and I am glad I managed to win it at the end," continued the
Alexandria teenager who boasts three World Junior Championship titles.
"Playing the Squash Queen and World no.1 Nicol David tomorrow in her
hometown!"
RESULTS: Penang CIMB Women's World Squash Championship, Penang, Malaysia
