Nicol sets up revenge match
NICOL David gets a chance to avenge a shock defeat to Annie Au last month after both players advanced to the second round of the Hong Kong Open yesterday.
A 10-time winner of the Hong Kong Open, Nicol opened her campaign by beating Canadian qualifier Danielle Letourneau 11-2, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3 in the first-ever meeting between the two players.
Annie, who stunned Nicol at the US Open for her first win in 24 meetings with the eight-time world champion, downed fellow Hong Kong player Tong TszWing 13-11, 11-9, 11-3.
Asia’s top two players meet in the last-16 on Thursday with the winner expected to then face third seed Camille Serme of France in the quarter-finals.
Camille reached the second round in ruthless fashion after crushing national No 2 Rachel Arnold, who came through the qualifying rounds earlier, 11-1, 110, 11-3 in 19 minutes.
National men’s No 1 Nafiizwan Adnan, who also advanced from the qualifiers, saw his tournament come to an end after an 11-7, 11-5, 11-2 defeat to eighth-seed Fares Dessouky of Egypt.
World No 6 Nicol was pegged back in the third game when she went 6-1 behind to 45th-ranked Danielle but recovered in the fourth to start on a winning note.
“I’ve seen her play previously in the World Team Championship and she has improved a lot since then,” said Nicol, 34. “It was a really good match, she played well and in that third game, I think she found her angles and I wasn’t expecting it. My shots weren’t as tight as I wanted them to be and I needed to sharpen up at the end.
“I lost a bit of my depth during the match so in the end I focused on putting the pressure on from the start and she made a few mistakes. I put my game plan together and it came together well.”
Nicol relishes playing in Hong Kong as it has been a great hunting ground for the former World No 1 who won her first world title there in 2005.
“It’s great to be back here. Hong Kong is a special place for me, there are a lot of memorable moments here. I won my first World Championship title here and there’s a great vibe,” said Nicol, who was unbeaten in 58 matches in Hong Kong until Egypt’s Nouran Gohar ended the run last year. Devinder Singh