Nicol cruises in Colombia

David breezed into the quarter-finals of the Ciudad de Floridablance tournament in Colombia on Wednesday in her pursuit of a first PSA Tour title since December 2015.

An 11-2, 11-7, 11-3 win over training partner Samantha Teran in the first round set 33-year-old Nicol up for a last-eight tie against Hong Kong’s Joey Chan.

Eight-time world champion Nicol had little difficulty in getting past Samantha to improve her head-to-head record against the Mexican to 9-0 since their first meeting in 2006.

“It’s always difficult to play a good friend of yours, but I knew I had to go in really strong,” said World No 7 Nicol, seeded seventh in the inaugural Floridablanca tournament in the absence of the leading Egyptian players.

Nicol, who will play the British Open and the Women’s World Championship following this event, had to remain patient before getting on to the open-air glass court around 10pm local time at the Parque el Santisimo, with rain delaying proceedings.

Top seeded American Amanda Sobhy, playing just before Nicol, advanced with an 11-6, 11-1, 11-2 win over qualifier Millie Tomlinson of England while Amanda’s compatriot Olivia Blatchford produced a major upset by knocking out fourth seed Annie Au of Hong Kong 13-11, 6-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-2.

It was left to Joey to continue flying the Hong Kong flag with a 3-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 win over Canadian Hollie Naughton while third seed Alison Waters of England came through a testing encounter with Egyptian Salma Hany Ibrahim 12-10, 11-6, 11-7.