KUALA LUMPUR: Nicol David's hopes of regaining the Hong Kong Open title were dashed by France's Camille Serme in the quarter-finals today.
A 10-time winner of the tournament from 2006 to 2015, Nicol was beaten 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6 by World No 3 Camille.
It was Camille's first-ever win over former World No 1 Nicol in 19 meetings over the last eight years.
The defeat leaves World No 6 Nicol without a tournament win in her last seven outings on the PSA Tour since lifting the Ciudad de Floridablanca title in Colombia in March.
"It was a very tough game, it’s always a battle with her even if she’s not at the top of the rankings any more," said Camille, who lost to Nicol in the 2012 final.
"She’s still a great player and I knew it was going to be hard. I can’t believe I have just done it. I think I had to attack and make her work at the front of the court as much as I could.
"It’s very positive to beat Nicol for the first time so I could be in the semi-finals here."
Meanwhile, 2017 Sea Games champions Ng Eain Yow and S. Sivasangari kept the hopes of a Malaysian double alive after reaching the men's and women's finals respectively at the Australian Open in Darwin.
Eain Yow, the 2016 world junior champion, rallied from two games down to oust Australian top seed Rex Hedrick 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-2 while Sivasangari extended her winning run to 14 matches by beating Egyptian Nouran El Torky 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 in the semi-finals.
In the finals, both Malaysians face Australian players with Eain Yow meeting Joshua Larkin while Sivasangari takes on former world champion Rachael Grinham in her bid to win a fourth consecutive PSA Tour title.
World No 54 Sivasangari, who received a first round bye before edging Australian Jessica Turnbull 11-13, 17-15, 15-13, 5-11, 11-9 in the quarter-finals, began her unbeaten streak at the Beijing Challenge Cup in September before winning the Malaysian Tour 11th leg and Malaysian Open.
The national junior will face 40-year-old top seed Rachael after the 2007 world champion downed Christine Nunn 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 in an all-Australian semi-final.