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Nicol faces tricky first round hurdle at KL Open

By LIM TEIK HUAT

PETALING JAYA: World number one Nicol David gets her squash season underway with a tricky first-round hurdle against Madeline Perry of Ireland in the CIMB Kuala Lumpur Open next week.

The qualifying and first-round matches will be played at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil and matches from the quarter-final stage on March 5 will be staged at the Berjaya Times Square.

The women’s competition of the Open has attracted the world’s top nine players. And Nicol has to be wary of Madeline’s potential to spoil her hopes of a winning start to the year in front of the home fans even though the Malaysian star has won all 10 of their previous meetings against Perry on the Wispa Tour.

Irish danger: Madeline Perry is capable of upsetting Nicol David in the first round of the KL Open next week.

The 31-year-old world No. 9 could pose an early threat if Nicol fails to get into high gear in her first competitive match of the season.

Madeline reached the World Open semi-finals in Manchester last year before falling to eventual champion Nicol.

A win for Nicol will probably give her a quarter-final match against world number five Jenny Duncalf of England, who has yet to win in nine previous meetings against the Malaysian.

The top seeded Nicol is drawn to play against a familiar rival in 2007 world champion Rachael Grinham of Australia in the semi-finals. The final could see Nicol renewing her rivalry with world number two and the younger of the Grinham sisters, Natalie, who now plays for Holland, or fourth seed Natalie Grainger of United States.

It will be Nicol’d 13th consecutive Wispa title if she retains the KL Open title.

Last year, Nicol began her professional season with victory in the Apawamis Open in January and completed her 10-tournament schedule with a 100% win record. Besides the KL Open, Nicol also emerged as the champion in the British Open, Seoul Open, Malaysia Open, Singapore Masters, Dutch Open, World Open, Qatar Classic and Hong Kong Open.

National number two Sharon Wee has been drawn in the same half as Nicol after getting a wild card. But she has to beat Duncalf to get a crack at Nicol in the next round.

National number one Ong Beng Hee will also be seeking a successful defence of the men’s title for Malaysia. Beng Hee is the second seed and opens against a qualifier. His test in the quarter-finals will likely be against Stewart Boswell of Australia, who plays another Malaysian, Nafiizwan Adnan, in the first round.

Beng Hee is slated to face either fourth seed Adrian Grant of England or Mansoor Zaman of Pakistan in the semi-finals.

Azlan Iskandar could take over the national number one spot from Beng Hee if he wins the KL Open title.

Third seed Azlan, who is drawn in the other half as top seed Peter Barker of England, opens against Omar Mosaad of Egypt in the first round.

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