KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — Malaysian squash ace Datuk Nicol David toiled for an hour and 10 minutes at the US Open in Philadelphia this morning to regain the world number one spot that she relinquished last month but fell short to Englishwoman Laura Massaro.
In a match that the US Open organisers described as a remarkable comeback by world number three Massaro, Nicol raced ahead two games up but fell short in the fifth to go down 8-11, 4-11, 11-6, 11-8, 12-10 in 70 minutes.
World number two Nicol, seeded second at the Open played in Drexel, had stepped into the court at 6pm last night (6am Malaysian time this morning) in the second night of quarter-finals matches with every prospect of re-emerging as world number one against third-seeded Massaro.
Egyptian Raneem El Welily, who replaced Nicol at the top of world squash on September 1, had in one of the first two quarter-final matches the previous night been stung by world No. 9 compatriot Nour El Tayeb.
Penang girl Nicol, 32, remains the only Malaysian to hold one of the longest reigns in world sport at 109 months. She had been world top-ranked player for close to a decade since 2006 until she was displaced.
On the ASB GlassCourt in Drexel, this morning, Massaro was looking all but down and out after the first two games to beat eight-time world champion and three-time defending US Open Champion Nicol, according to the organiser’s website.
Nicol pulled clear from 8-all in the first to take the lead 11-8, and dominated the second, moving from 7-1 to take it 11-4. But Massaro, 30, came out determined in the third to take a quick 4-1 lead as she pulled a game back 11-6.
The fourth was even up to 8-all but this time it was Massaro who finished the stronger, levelling the match 11-8.
In a tense decider, Massaro just about held on to a slight lead in the early stages, only for Nicol to level at 7-all.
The rallies became longer and more patient, with Nicol and Massaro inching to 8-all and 9-all, wary of making crucial errors in their cat and mouse game. Massaro took match ball as Nicol collided with her midcourt but did not ask for a let.
Nicol saved it with a drive to a perfect length for 10-all.
Massaro hit a boast from the back for a second match ball, expecting a stroke in midcourt. The marker calls let, confirmed on appeal.
Nicol’s reprieve fell short as her boast to a service return dropped into the tin, and her reign as US Open champion was over.
“Being two games down against Nicol is always going to be an uphill battle,” Massaro said on the organiser’s website, “but I knew I could do it because that’s what happened last time we played so I thought maybe it was in her mind as well.”
Nicol had boasted an 18-5 career head-to-head lead over Massaro. But her English rival is the only player to have recorded five wins over the Malaysian in her record eight-year reign as world number one.
And Massaro had won their two most recent encounters this year — the British Open final in May, and in the KL Open semi-finals in March.
“She was playing well and I was being hard on myself after the first and the second went so quickly. I came out to fight my hardest in the third – I wanted to at least make the score respectable, just taking it one rally at a time and I guess it came good for me in the end.”
