Squash: Nicol in ominous form as top seeds reach the final four

Leisure Park Kallang - Topseed Nicol David turned in a composed performance to despatch World No 9 Kasey Brown 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 to reach the final four of the CIMB Singapore Women’s Masters 2010.

The Malaysian World no 1 stayed patient throughout the 40-minute encounter, working long rallies to her advantage and making her Australian opponent work just a little harder to keep up.

At times it was almost brutal as David kept her mistakes to the minimum and never allowed Brown to get comfortable in the four-side glass court at Leisure Mall

Brown was magnanimous in defeat: “Nicol is just super quick around the court.I had a game plan in mind but didn’t execute it properly. She wasn’t giving much away at all throughout the match even when I was trying to slow the game down.”

“At times it felt like I had to win the rallies several times over just to win a point!” the player from Taree added.

The win sets up an intriguing semi-final for David against Northern Ireland’s Madeline Perry who ended Annie Au’s run in Singapore 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4.

Ten months ago, the Penangite suffered one of her four defeats in 2009 to Perry in the quarter-finals of the British Open.

But she is not about to let memories of the 76-minute match in Manchester play on her mind.

“I bounced back quickly from that defeat and went on to win the World Open right after that. Right now, I’m feeling fit and am staying focused for the next match,” said David.

The other semi-final will be between second seed Rachael Grinham and England’s Alison Waters who’s seeded third.

Waters came through a thrid game wobble to beat France’s Camille Serme in four, the first meeting between the two in 18 months. And Serme saw positives despite losing: “I have improved a lot in the last year, and I always want to meet the higher-ranked player to see how much I’ve closed the gap with them.”

Commenting on the match with Waters, the Frenchwoman said: “I had a bad start in game four, and that put a stop to my comeback.”

And just as the first three editions of the Singapore Masters final have been won by David, they have invariably featured one of the Grinham sisters. World no 3 Rachael made sure that could still happen, trumping WISPA President Natalie Grainger in 20 minutes.

“It was never going to be a long match with Natalie,” said Grinham, “she always goes for her shots and even if we went to five games it would be quick.”

Looking ahead to her encounter with Waters, the 33-year-old from Toowoomba said: “Alison creamed me in our last three or four matches, and she’s in pretty good form. So I’m in for another tough match tomorrow.”

“I’m still getting back to full match fitness having not played tournaments since April, and lasted one match in Malaysia last week,” she added.

The Australian’s quick wins over Singapore’a Pamela Chua in round one, and against Grainger, would hardly have given her the workout she needed.

“Maybe I’d practice with Nicol tomorrow morning seeing as Alison’s likely to get her hits with Perry.”

Quarter-finals results:

[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [7] Kasey Brown (AUS) 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (40m)

[6] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt[Q] Annie Au (HKG) 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4 (54m)

[3] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [8] Camille Serme (FRA) 12-10, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6 (43m)

[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [5] Natalie Grainger (USA) 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 (20m)

Semi-final draw:

[1] Nicol David (MAS) vs [6] Madeline Perry (IRL)

[3] Alison Waters (ENG) vs [2] Rachael Grinham (AUS)