Nicol storms into quarters

CANBERRA: Top seed and defending champion Datuk Nicol David cruised into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Squash championship after beating fellow Malaysian Low Wee Wern 11-4, 11-1, 11-6 here yesterday.

Nicol who was stretched to four games in the opening round on Wednesday by Welsh qualifier Tesni Evans, was in sparkling form, allowing no room for Wee Wern to get her game going.

Australia’s Donna Urquhart scored one of the best wins of her career by beating fellow countrywoman Rachael Grinham as four of the top eight women’s seeds lost their second round matches.

Urquhart came out firing against the seventh seeded Grinham and then held off a resurgence to win 11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 11-4, her first ever win over her AIS training partner.

Second seed Jenny Duncalf of England, Hong Kong’s Annie Au (5) and Frenchwoman Camille Serme (6) all lost their matches on a day of upsets, while Australia’s eighth seeded Kasey Brown had to come back from a game down to beat New Zealand’s Joelle King 7-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9.

Urquhart will meet third seeded Englishwoman Laura Massaro who beat fellow countrywoman Emily Whitlock, 14-12, 11-8, 11-9.

Earlier, former world junior champion Amanda Sobhy of the US produced some stunning squash to send second seeded Duncalf crashing out.

Duncalf finished runner-up to Nicol in Canberra last year but she had no answer to Sobhy, the American who shuttles between playing squash and being a full-time student at the Harvard University.

Sobhy won 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6.

Au, who won the title in 2008, lost to 2010 runner-up Alison Waters of England 11-7, 11-6, 11-8 while Indian glamour girl Dipika Pallikal downed Serme 3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6.

There was no such problem for top seed Nicol who easily accounted for Wee Wern 11-4, 11-1, 11-6 while Ireland’s Madeline Perry, the winner in 2010, also progressed after beating England’s Emma Beddoes 11-8, 13-11, 11-2.