Nicol’s hat-trick bid ends in semis

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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s squash queen, Datuk Nicol David’s bid to claim the third PSA World Series Finals title has came to an end after losing in the semifinals of the tournament held at Burj Park in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Friday (early Saturday in Malaysia).

The Penangite, who picked up two wins and a defeat in the Group A matches, lost 1-2 (5-11, 11-8 and 8-11) to the world number three Egyptian Raneem El Welily, dashing her dream to claim her third title after securing back-to-back victories in 2011/12 and 2012/13 season, which were both held in London.

On the defeat, Nicol said that she is enjoying a good week for herself in the tournament which used the best of three sets format.

“In the first game today, Raneem just took the initiative straight away and I had to find a way to come back at her in the second.

“I managed to do that and carried it into the third (set) but she just found some of her best shots and I exposed myself too much and she took confidence from it,” Nicol was quoted as saying in the tournament website, www.worldseriesfinals.com.

Raneem will meet world number two, England’s Laura Massaro who is also the 2012/13 season runner-up, in the final match.

Massaro avenged her defeat to Egyptian Nour El Sherbini in the final of last month’s Women’s World Championship by downing the 20-year-old Alexandrian, winning 2-0 (12-10 and 11-6) in another semifinals match.

The top eight men and women squash players in the PSA World Rankings are competing in the tournament to determine the winner of the final title for the 2015/16 season. — Bernama