CAIRO: Nicol David’s bid to regain her World Championship crown took another step forward on Tuesday as she became the first player to reach the quarter-finals.
But she was forced to battle surprisingly hard in both the first two games of her match in Cairo.
The record-breaking seven-time world champion was 7-9 down in the first and 8-9 down in the second before prevailing 12-10, 11-9, 11-1 against Emily Whitlock, a 20-year-old English qualifier making a comeback after sickness and injury.
Nicol had too much consistency, speed and patience, but Emily, whose father-coach Phil, is a former England international, impressed with her vision of what was required and with her resilience.
She often moved Nicol around the court well during plenty of long rallies in a 45-minute encounter, and by giving the top seed such a good work out may have done her a favour.
“It was a really good match and actually I enjoyed it,” Nicol said. “In these (cool) conditions, the girls are going to take advantage if you leave anything loose and I was really pleased to get the first two games.
“I expect these kind of matches. I was prepared to attack, attack and stay in there.”
Nicol repaired the two-point deficit near the end of the important first game with a deft volley-drop winner and then an unanswerable drive-drop combination, eventually finishing that game with a wall-clinging drive which Emily could not scrape to safety.
The later stages of the second game saw Nicol come from behind with a drive to a fine length, a disguised volley drop winner, and then a concluding counter-drop winner after a tight rally in the top left corner.
In the third game Emily was spent, though this may also partly have been due to having played four times in four days, after coming through the qualifying competition.
“She doesn't stop coming at you, it’s relentless," she said of Nicol. “It’s volley, volley, volley and she has variation, it’s at such a high pace, and it’s so controlled.
“You feel like you’re running yourself into the ground. But I am pleased with the way I played,” said Emily.
Nicol next plays Camille Serme, the World No 6 from France, who reached the world quarter-finals for the second time in nine months by beating Emma Beddoes, the fourth player in England’s world title winning team, by 11-5, 11-13, 11-4, 11-4.
The possibility of an all-Malaysian semi-final for the first time came closer when Low Wee Wern reached the last eight, though she had to come from behind for the second time in two days to do it.
The seventh-seeded Penangite seemed to be drifting into trouble at 6-5 in the fourth game against Joshana Chinappa, the Indian national champion, but grittily struggled through many long rallies to a 6-11, 11-3, 11-13, 11-7, 11-8 success.
The day before Wee Wern had been 3-7 down in the fourth against Nicolette Fernandes of Guyana, thus winning matches of 80 minutes and 64 minutes on successive days despite hamstring problems which required extensive taping.
She had an invaluable rest day (yesterday) before facing Omneya Abdel Kawy, the former world finalist from Egypt whose brilliant short game looks well adapted to the cool conditions, and who was a 13-11, 11-7, 13-11 winner against her compatriot Nouran Gohar. AFP