Nicol's march at world champs continues, Wee Wern halted

Nicol David of Malaysia takes a shot in the women's world championship quarter-final match against Camille Serme of France on Thursday

PETALING JAYA: World No.1 Nicol David inched closer to an all-time eighth Women’s World Championship title after checking into the semi-finals with a hard fought win over Frenchwoman Camille Serme.

The 31-year-old Nicol dug in deep before emerging triumphant with an 11-9, 11-7, 13-11 win in the quarter-finals at the Wadi Degla Squash Club in Cairo, Egypt on Thursday.

It was just classic faultless squash from Nicol who bounced back from 6-9 down in the first set, taking five straight points for the crucial opening set.

Having controlled the second set, Nicol was made to work harder after blowing a 10-7 lead in the third, before composing herself to seal the win in 43 minutes.

It was Nicol’s 17th win over world No.6 Serme in all meetings and she will make her 11th world meet semi-final appearance since 2003.

“I knew Camille would be fired up to play her best squash and I had to step up my game,” said Nicol.

“I had to increase the intensity in the second and in the third, I wasn’t volleying as much as Camille hit some amazing winners to level in the end.

“But I managed to hang in there and getting a 3-0 result against Camille is a great result and I’m happy with that.”

Any hopes of an all-Malaysian semi-final quickly vaporized as national No.2 Low Wee Wern, playing with an heavily bandaged left leg, fell apart after a bright start to lose to Egypt’s Omneya Abdel Kawy.

Wee Wern the world No.7 put up a brave front but with her movement impaired, 2010 finalist Omneya took full advantage to post up a 12-10, 11-3, 11-4 win.

“My game relies on my movement a fair bit and when I can’t move freely, it’s tough. The first set was close but the ball got colder and less lively and Omneya just put everything in front,” said Wee Wern.

Meanwhile world No.2 Laura Massaro of England became the shortest-reign world champion in history after she was wiped out by teammate and world No.5 Alison Waters.

The 31-year-old Massaro who in March won the delayed 2013 world title, was unable to prevent a sharp and confident Waters from securing a superb 12-14, 11-2, 11-7, 11-9 win in 52 minutes.

“Playing in Canada at the Women’s World Team Championships gave me a lot of confidence and I learned a lot about myself there,” said the 30-year-old Waters.

“I realised that I was actually mentally very strong and I came here to prove myself and I’m pretty proud of what I’ve achieved.”

Waters will meet home favourite and world No.3 Raneem El Welily in the last four. The bubbly Raneem defeated best friend Nour El Tayeb 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 11-5.