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Fiery Nicol beats Annie to cruise into the quarter-finals

A walk in the park: Nicol David stayed firmly on track for a record seventh world title at the Women’s World Open at Cayman Islands. 
A walk in the park: Nicol David stayed firmly on track for a record seventh world title at the Women’s World Open at Cayman Islands.
 
PETALING JAYA: World No. 1 Nicol David stayed firmly on track for a record seventh world title after effortlessly crushing Hong Kong’s Annie Au in the second round of the Women’s World Open at Cayman Islands.

The 23-year-old Annie, ranked ninth in the world, has never beaten Nicol in 12 meetings – not even when she was at her very best.

This time, Annie came into the tournament suffering from a slight dip in form, having lost in the first round of the Hong Kong Open earlier this month – and was duly punished by Nicol, who won 11-3, 11-2, 11-3 in just 25 minutes on Monday.

It was a truly dominant performance by the 29-year-old Nicol, a far cry from her Malaysian Open campaign back in September, where she struggled to beat Annie in four sets.

In fact, Monday’s match was over even before it started as Nicol raced to early leads in a one-sided match.

“It’s great getting back here ... I love the courts, the settings and the music too, so it’s really nice to be playing here again, especially in the World Open,” said the six-time world champion on
www.squashsite.co.uk.

“The last three years here were memorable for me but this is the big one ... and everyone will be going for it and stepping up their game.

“Who I face next doesn’t really matter much to me because I’m happy to be playing well here and am looking forward to the quarter-finals and enjoying it.”

The Penangite will next face Irish veteran Madeline Perry, who upset Egyptian world junior champion Nour El Sherbini 11-2, 11-9, 11-9 in 39 minutes.

“The condition here was really hot but I knew it would suit me more. However, I didn’t expect to start with a 7-0 lead in the first set,” said Perry.

“Still, I’m really pleased to get through because my form has been up and down lately. But this is the world meet and I really wanted to be able to perform here.”

In other second round matches, sixth seed Jenny Duncalf overpowered France’s Camille Serme 12-10, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8 to set up an all-England clash with fourth seed Alison Waters in the quarter-finals.
Waters had a breeze against Mexico’s Samantha Teran, winning 11-5, 12-10, 11-3 in 29 minutes.



THE STAR

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