Nicol sails into final
Penangite to meet England’s Perry for title
KUALA LUMPUR: Nicol David produced a swashbuckling performance – reminiscent of her heyday – to storm into the final of the Netsuite Open squash championship in the United States.
The 34-year-old world No. 5 needed just 22 minutes to thrash India’s Dipika Pallikal 11-3, 11-0, 11-5 in the semi-finals at the Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco on Friday.
This will be Nicol’s first appearance in the Netsuite Open final.
The second-seeded Penangite showed no sign of fatigue despite the gruelling five-set quarter-final win over England’s Victoria Lust the previous day.
“After a five-setter in the quarter-finals, you really have to start well,” said Nicol, who did just that by taking control right from the first set as she glided around the court to give world No. 21 Dipika no chance to launch any kind of attack.
So dominant was Nicol that the 26-year-old Dipika failed to get even a single point in the second set.
Although Dipika began to find her range in the third set, she could not break Nicol’s rhythm as the Malaysian sealed victory to set up a title showdown against world No. 6 and third seed Sarah-Jane Perry of England.
The Englishwoman had knocked out defending champion and compatriot Laura Massaro 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 in 68 minutes in the first semi-final on Thursday.
“She’s (Dipika) a dangerous player, so I needed to be sharp from the word go. The court really worked for me today and I found my lengths. I found my volleys and I was really pleased to win that 3-0 and play the way I did today.
“This is my first time in the final here, so it will be very exciting for me to play in front of a great crowd.
“I’m really going to give it a good go,” said Nicol.
It will be an all-Egyptian men’s final between top seed Karim Abdel Gawad and second seed Mohamed Elshorbagy.
Karim came back from two sets down to beat Diego Elias of Peru 6-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 while Mohamed also needed five sets to beat fourth seed James Willstrop of England 11-2, 11-13, 8-11, 11-6, 14-12.