Squash: Nicol in seventh heaven with Dutch victory.
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KUALA LUMPUR: Top seed Nicol David gunned down her seventh consecutive Women's International Squash Players Association (Wispa) title with a convincing win over world number two Natalie Grinham of Holland in the Dutch Open final in Amsterdam yesterday.
The world number one beat Natalie 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 to dash the hopes of the Australia-born player to earn her first title as a Dutch player.
The 25-year-old Nicol appeared to struggle to find her footing in the early stages of the match and trailed 5-9 in the first game. But she produced a superb comeback to reel off six consecutive points and her rival never recovered after that.
Defending champion Nicol went into the match with a big psychological advantage over Grinham. They have played against each other 10 times over the last two years and Nicol won nine of them.
In the semi-finals on Saturday, Nicol took just 32 minutes to secure a 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 win over fourth seed American Natalie Grainger. Grinham reached the final by beating eighth seed Alison Waters of England 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8.
The previous titles Nicol won this season were at the Apawanis, Kuala Lumpur, British, Seoul and Malaysia Opens and the Singapore Masters.
The world number one beat Natalie 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 to dash the hopes of the Australia-born player to earn her first title as a Dutch player.
The 25-year-old Nicol appeared to struggle to find her footing in the early stages of the match and trailed 5-9 in the first game. But she produced a superb comeback to reel off six consecutive points and her rival never recovered after that.
Defending champion Nicol went into the match with a big psychological advantage over Grinham. They have played against each other 10 times over the last two years and Nicol won nine of them.
In the semi-finals on Saturday, Nicol took just 32 minutes to secure a 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 win over fourth seed American Natalie Grainger. Grinham reached the final by beating eighth seed Alison Waters of England 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8.
The previous titles Nicol won this season were at the Apawanis, Kuala Lumpur, British, Seoul and Malaysia Opens and the Singapore Masters.
WOMEN
Semi-finals: Nicol David (Mas) bt Natalie Grainger (Usa) 11-9, 11-5, 11-8; Natalie Grinham (Ned) bt Alison Waters (Eng) 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8.
Final: Nicol bt Grinham 11-9, 11-9, 11-5.
Semi-finals: Nicol David (Mas) bt Natalie Grainger (Usa) 11-9, 11-5, 11-8; Natalie Grinham (Ned) bt Alison Waters (Eng) 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8.
Final: Nicol bt Grinham 11-9, 11-9, 11-5.
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I really salute Nicole Anne David. The way she has done it, should put a shame to other Malaysian sportsman. Imagine a scenario that if Malaysia has not gained her independent., the late Mokhtar Dahari would have played for England and Nicole would have also and she'll definitely a millionaire by now. Malaysia wolud have won her first gold in the Olympics in Beijing had squash been one of the sports been competed. Gosh!!
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