England, May 18, 2014: World number one Nicol David avenged her title loss last year by beating England’s defending champion Laura Massaro in today’s final of the Women’s Allam British Open Squash Championship to win the historic Women’s Squash Association (WSA) World Series Platinum title at the Sports Arena in Hull for the fifth time since 2005.
World No2 Massaro took a tight first game 11-8 before the Malaysian (pictured above in the final) stormed back to take the next three games 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 in 64 minutes to win the 74th WSA World Tour title of her career.
“To win the British Open means the world,” the delighted 30-year-old from Penang told the crowd: “Laura played a great match today and I really had to dig deep to win this title back.
“I was playing for my life out there. It felt great to come out on the winning end knowing that all the hard work that you put in does pay off.
“Dr Allam (featured image with David, centre, and Massaro) has brought the prestige back to the British Open and it’s been fantastic. Raising the prize money for the women has been tremendous for the tour. We need more people like Dr Allam involved in the sport,” concluded David.
The Malaysian’s coach Liz Irving, a former world No2 from Australia, summed up the significance of the win to her Twitter followers later: “I am so humbled by the integrity of Nicol. Her drive her work ethic. She worked hard for this title! a real inspiration!”
Despite the loss, Massaro remained upbeat: “I can honestly say I gave it my all today, so overall I’m pretty pleased. I knew today would bring out Nicol’s best level, I hoped it would. You want to play players at the top of her game and my main goal was to play my best.
“I wanted to come off today knowing where I stand, whether I deserve to be anywhere near her in the rankings or not,” continued the 30-year-old from Preston. “I’m not far away at all, we were both at our best.
“I gave it everything that I had so I can’t be too disappointed with the result. Even though I’ve lost it will give me a lot of confidence going into the next tournament.
“It’s a goal to be number one in the world, but she’s a brilliant player. I’m going to have a little break next week as it’s my only chance before the Commonwealth Games. I’ve got a lot of doubles practise coming up and I’m really looking forward to the Games,” conclude the England No1. —- Image © SquashPics.com
RESULTS: Women’s Allam British Open, Hull, England
Final:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [2] Laura Massaro (ENG) 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 (64m)
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