KUALA LUMPUR: World No 9 Nicol David has been handed a tough draw for the British Open on May 15-20.
The ninth seed will open against World No 20 Mariam Metwally of Egypt, and if the Malaysian wins, she will likely face 2015 winner Camille Serme of France in the second round.
Nicol defeated Camille in the quarter-finals last year but has since lost twice to the Frenchwoman.
If Nicol wins her second round match, the eight-time world champion will likely face Gold Coast Commonwealth Games gold medallist Joelle King of New Zealand or Tesni Evans of Wales in the last-eight. Nicol lost to both players in the Gold Coast recently.
Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) director of coaching Mej (rtd) S. Maniam said Nicol will have to be at her best in order to do well in the tournament.
But signs are Nicol will likely struggle considering her poor form at the El Gouna International Squash Open in Egypt, where she suffered her first ever defeat to India’s Joshna Chinappa in the second round.
"The defeat to Joshna was a bit of a surprise but being the champion she is, I am confident Nicol will regroup and bounce back at the British Open,” said Maniam on Tuesday.
"But one will have to understand that she will have her hands full with these young girls as they will run and pick up everything.”
Maniam also expects Ng Eain Yow, Nafiizwan Adnan, Ivan Yuen and S. Sivasangari to do well in the qualifying round.
"I have not seen the (qualifying) draw, however, our players are all charged up having had good performances at the Commonwealth Games and to some extent at El Gouna," added Maniam.
Nafiizwan and Sivasangari won their qualifying rounds before losing to Mexican Cesar Salazar and Raneem El Welily (Egypt) in the opening round of the main draw in Egypt.