Massaro Stretched In Malaysian Open Quarters, David Advances by Howard Harding 13 September 2013
- England's world No2 Laura Massaro acknowledged that Joelle King 'made
it really hard for me' as she battled for five games to overcome the
New Zealander in today's longest quarter-final of the Women's CIMB
Malaysian Open Squash Championship at the Curve Shopping Mall in
Petaling Jaya in Selangor.
The second seed from
Preston, who had reached the last eight without dropping a game, was
pushed from the off by fifth seed King, the 24-year-old world No5 eager
to make the semi-finals for the first time.
Massaro (pictured
above, right, with King) lost the opener after a tie-break - but fought
back to take a 2/1 lead. But again King countered to draw level.
England's recently-crowned British Open champion had the upper hand in
the decider, however, finally closing out the match 12-14, 11-9, 11-8,
8-11, 11-3 in 69 minutes.
"I managed to play
really well in the fifth game and won that fairly comfortably," Massaro
told squashstars.com later. "The other four games were quite tight.
"Joelle played great -
the match was really tough the whole way through. She made it really
hard for me - and that's what these matches are all about."
Massaro, in the semis for the second year in a row, now meets No3 seed Raneem El Weleily, the defending champion from Egypt.
England's former world
No2 Jenny Duncalf boasts a 5/3 head-to-head Tour record over El Weleily
- and duly took the opening game. But the 24-year-old from Cairo, who
won the pair's last encounter at the British Open in May, began to take
control of the match and after 39 minutes wrapped up a 4-11, 11-4,
11-8, 11-5 victory.
"It was a really tough
match today against Jenny," said the title-holder (pictured above,
foreground, with Duncalf). "I had a really, really, really slow start -
but luckily I managed to get back into it.
"You never know how
it's going to go against Jenny - I think we have similar games and
tactics. I think I'm very lucky to be through today and look forward to
tomorrow."
Second round
giant-killer Camille Serme continued her fine form in the event by
beating England's 16th seed Sarah-Jane Perry 11-8, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9 in
50 minutes. The 10th seed from France caused a mighty upset 24 hours
earlier by ousting fourth seed Alison Waters.
"I thought my game was
a bit less good than yesterday - but I still managed to win 3/1 and am
very happy to be in the semi-finals," said the 24-year-old European
champion from Creteil.
"In the second game,
she played really good shots and I lost a bit of my length and made a
few mistakes. The fourth was really important and I was so happy to win
the last game."
Before a packed crowd
at the end of the evening, event favourite Nicol David survived an
all-Malaysian clash with fellow Penangite Low Wee Wern (both pictured
above), beating the sixth seed 11-4, 11-6, 3-11, 11-5 in 56 minutes.
It was world number
one David's fifth Tour win over Wern - but the first in which the
Malaysian No2 had taken a game. David is now one match away from a
remarkable 11th successive appearance in the final.
RESULTS: Women's CIMB Malaysian Open, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
