Thursday, March 28, 2024

Nicol David adds Macau Open to her collection of titles

Masterful Malaysian takes WSA Gold as she beats Raneem El Welily in straight games
By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad Correspondent

Moving smoothly, Nicol David shapes up for a quality forehand
Moving smoothly, Nicol David shapes up for a quality forehand

A masterful performance by Nicol David in the climax of the Women’s Macau Open saw the world number one from Malaysia win her third WSA World Tour title in two months after crushing Egypt’s world No3 Raneem El Welily in straight games in today’s final of the WSA Gold 50 squash event at Complex Desportivo International do Cotai in Taipa, Macau.

In her 14th straight match win in a row – during which she dropped only two games as she picked up the Hong Kong Open trophy in August and the US Open crown in Philadelphia last week – the 31-year-old from Penang despatched El Welily 11-9, 11-2, 11-7.

El Welily twice recovered from leads by the top seed in the first game to draw level at six-all and eight-all, but David took the opener before racing away with the second.

From 3-6 down in the third, the 25-year-old from Cairo battled back to seven-all before David stemmed the advance to clinch the title.
“It’s great to win my first Macau squash open here in this amazing venue,” David (pictured above in action with El Welily) told the crowd as she received her latest trophy. “I felt I played well today and Raneem hit more tins today than she has done before.”

The triumph marks the 77th Tour title of her illustrious career – and comes only five weeks after winning a remarkable fourth Asian Games gold medal.

“So happy to win my first #MacauOpen title after beating Raneem 3-0,” David later told her FaceBook fans. “Thanks to Macau Squash and everyone involved in making this tournament a successful major event for women’s squash.”

Women’s Macau Open, Taipa, Macau.

Final:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY) 11-9, 11-2, 11-7
results (winner’s name most be in bold! – no spaces between each result as well – keeps compact)

Picture by Steve Cubbins (SquashSite)

 

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