KUALA LUMPUR: Nicol David kept alive her bid for a ninth World Championship title after a hard-won battle with Asian rival Annie Au in Manchester yesterday.
Former World No 1 Nicol downed Hong Kong's Au 11-7, 11-3, 10-12, 11-6 in 33 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals where she faces second seed Raneem El Weleily tomorrow.
Nicol appeared headed for a straight-games win when she led 10-5 in the third but Au battled back to save five match points and send the match to a fourth game.
But Nicol, 34, maintained her composure to capitalise on a string of unforced errors by Au to extend her record against the World No 11 to 25-1.
"I knew she (Au) would fight for some of the game and I know she is gifted in the court," said Nicol, who last won the world title in 2014 in Cairo.
"I am really pleased with the way I played today and in the fourth game I knew I just had to keep the pressure on.
"Going into the fourth game, she was just finding a bit more time on the shots but I knew that I had to put the pressure on and stick to what I do and I’m really pleased to get through 3-1."
Egyptian El Weleily, a two-time World Championship runner-up, reached the last-eight with an 11-5, 15-13, 11-13, 11-5 win over England's Victoria Lust in the second round.
World No 2 El Weleily has beaten Nicol four times in a row but still trails in their head-to-head record 18-7 though the pair have not met since the Wadi Degla Open in Cairo in November last year.