NICOL David made heavy weather of sealing her semi-final berth at the Dutch Open on Friday as the World No 1 was taken the distance by England's Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (right pic) in Amsterdam.

The Malaysian top seed seemed to have had the measure of sixth seed Laura but let slip a two-game lead before battling back to win 11-5, 11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6 in the quarter-finals.

Nicol allowed Irish Open winner Laura to edge the third and fourth games as the World No 9 sought to end a run of four straight defeats to Nicol.

"I knew it would be hard, Laura is coming up the rankings and I've had some very hard games with her before, she just keeps coming back at you," said Nicol, 25, on the www.squashsite.co.uk website after being kept on court for an hour.

However, Nicol used her pace to good effect in the fifth game as she jumped to a 6-0 lead and never looked back.
"I had to keep the pace up as much as I could. She was using the court very well and I had to work really hard to keep ahead in that last game," added Nicol who was playing American fourth seed Natalie Grainger in the semi-finals late yesterday.

Natalie, who has lost nine straight times to Nicol since her only win in their first ever meeting in 2003, advanced to the last four with an 11-8, 11-3, 11-2 win over England's Jenny Duncalf.

Rachael Grinham of Australia crashed to eighth seed Alison Waters of England 11-9, 11-6, 12-10 in a disappointing outing before she begins the defence of her World Open title next month but second seed Natalie Grinham enjoyed better luck as she knocked out Vanessa Atkinson 11-4, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5 in an all-Dutch affair.

RESULTS -- Q-finals: Nicol David (Mas) bt Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (Eng) 11-5, 11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6; Natalie Grainger (US) bt Jenny Duncalf (Eng) 11-8, 11-3, 11-2; Alison Waters (Eng) bt Rachael Grinham (Aus) 11-9, 11-6, 12-10; Natalie Grinham (Ned) bt Vanessa Atkinson (Ned) 11-4, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5.