Malaysian Squash Queen, Nicol Advances Into British Open Second Round

KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysian squash queen and world number one Datuk Nicol David advanced into second round of the British Open squash championship held at St. George's Hill Lawn Tennis Club in Weybridge, United Kingdom, on Tuesday. However, two other Malaysian contenders at this year's competition, Low Wee Wern and Delia Arnold, were stopped by the homesters. According to the competiton official website, www.britishopensquash.net, Nicol beat tournament's qualifier, Maria Toor Pakay of Pakistan in straight sets 11-2, 11-3 and 11-6 in just 20 minutes. "It's the first time we played each other in a WSA (Women Squash Association) event. She came on court full of confidence and played those great low hard shots, which surprised me, because I didn’t expect them. "In the third set, I gave her too many angles, and she just went for her shots, but maybe got a bit too confident and started to make errors," said Nicol. She will meet 11th seeded Samantha Teran of Mexico in tomorrow's second round match. Earlier, Samantha defeated a qualifier, Lauren Briggs of England, in straight sets, 11-9, 11-6 and 11-7 in 30 minutes. The 13th seeded Wee Wern, on the other hand, had to face a gruelling five-set encounter against unseeded England's Alison Water which lasted for 70 minutes. Alison won the match 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 8-11 and 11-7. "It's the first time I played Alison. Obviously, she is one of the top players and I knew I had to be at my 100 per cent just to match her, not even talking about beating her. "I'm happy with the way I played, every game was very close, including the fifth. I think I gave her a bit too much in the centre, and gave her too much time on the ball. Still, a very high quality match," said Wee Wern. The unseeded Delia was shown the exit by world number two, England's Jenny Duncalf, after a gruelling 57-minute match with 11-6, 10-12, 11-8 and 11-6. -- BERNAMA