El Welily Downs David For Career-Biggest Title In Windy City by Howard Harding March 5, 2015 -
Egypt's world No.2 Raneem El Welily claimed the biggest WSA World Tour
squash title of her career when she upset Malaysian favourite Nicol
David in the final of the Windy City Open presented by Guggenheim and
EquiTrust Life Insurance Company in Chicago, USA.
David, the 31-year-old world No.1, was celebrating the 99th Tour final
of her career in the WSA World Series at the University Club of Chicago
- and reached the climax in style without dropping a game.
By contrast, 26-year-old El Welily (pictured above, left, in action
with David) was taken the full distance in her semi-final against sixth
seed Camille Serme - and was forced to fight back from 2/1 down before
beating the world No.6 from France.
The Cairo queen went into the final 3/17 down on a career head-to-head record with David over the past ten years.
And David, who has topped the world rankings unopposed since August
2006, took the lead after surviving a tense first game tie-break.
The second game also went to a tie-break, which El Welily won to draw level.
El Welily continued to maintain the upper hand, and after 57 minutes
recorded the biggest win of her life by beating the sport's dominant
player for almost a decade 14-16, 12-10, 11-7, 11-7.
"I'm absolutely thrilled to win," said El Welily, who scored 29 winners
in the match, against 19 by her illustrious opponent. "I always enjoy
playing Nicol - and all credit to her, she played a great tournament
and a great match. She's a great athlete."
When reminded of her recent World Championship clash with David, when
she squandered a match-ball in the final, El Welily (pictured above
with men's champion Nick Matthew) commented: "I thought I'd forgotten
about that match until I was 2/1 up and had match-ball at 10-6.
"I'm glad to have pushed and managed to win today. I'm absolutely happy!"
RESULTS: Windy City Open presented by Guggenheim and EquiTrust Life Insurance Company, Chicago, USA
Women's Final:
[2] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt [1] Nicol David (MAS) 14-16, 12-10, 11-7, 11-7 (57m)
