Nicol downs Dipika to reach second round
KUALA LUMPUR: World No. 9 Nicol David made short work of India’s Dipika Pallikal to reach the second round of the China Open squash championships.
The Penangite, who won the Asian Games gold medal in Jakarta last week, just needed 29 minutes to score a 11-3, 14-12, 11-9 win in Shanghai yesterday.
Nicol faces her nemesis world No. 7 Laura Massaro in the second round today. The Englishwoman, who won the tournament in 2016, received a first-round bye.
In their last meeting, Massaro defeated Nicol in straight sets in a group match of the PSA World Series in Dubai last year.
China’s Lin Dongjin, who received a wild card, upset Omneya Abdel Kawy of Egypt in straight sets 12-10, 11-7, 12-10 to set up a date with second seed Raneem El Welily, also of Egypt.
In the men’s competition, national No. 1 Nafiizwan Adnan also booked a place in the second round with a hard-fought 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 win over Peter Creed of Wales.
Nafiizwan, who helped Malaysia win the team gold in the Asian Games, faces top seed Simon Rosner of Germany for a place in the quarter-finals.
National No. 2 Ng Eain Yow, however, failed to get past the first round as he went down 6-11, 5-11, 3-11 to Joel Makin of Wales.
Makin faces seventh seed Omar Mosaad of Egypt in the second round.