The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Nicol in semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 08, 2006

Sport

Sport - Squash

Nicol in semifinals

V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD: World champion and second-seeded Nicol David of Malaysia played well when it mattered most to beat eighth-seeded Alison Waters of England 4-9, 9-1, 9-2, 9-6 in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Challenge 2006 WISPA squash championship at the Falaknuma Palace here on Friday.

Not rattled by the first game loss, Nicol switched gears in the next three. From the second game, she demonstrated why she was the favourite. The deadly combination of speed, precision and amazing reflexes were just too much for the hapless Waters in the next three games.

Jenny Duncalf of England got the better of teammate Vicky Botwright 9-5, 9-10, 9-5, 9-7 in another match. It was a remarkable comeback by the more athletic Duncalf, particularly in the fourth game after taking a 2-1 lead in the first three games. She was trailing 2-7 in the fourth game when Botwright looked to move into top gear.

That was the phase when she placed her winners to perfection. But Duncalf changed her strategy at the right time. She realised that her opponent was struggling and visibly tired and in turn, made her run around with a wonderfully controlled parallel game.

With her game moving to a different plane altogether, Duncalf emerged a deserving winner in 77 minutes, the longest match so far.

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