Africa Squash: El Weleily victory over Nicol

Raneem El Weleily closed out a thrilling five-game victory over Nicol David to claim the 2013 Gold50 Cleveland Classic.

The second seed had seen a relatively untroubled progression to the final having dropped just one game, to Sarah Kippax in round one, before moving past Annie Au and Alison Waters in straight games.

El Weleily twice came from a game down against the world No.1, whose precision and dominance on court was not enough for her to add to her record breaking haul of 66 WSA titles on this occasion.

Whiles El Weleily typically taking some time to warm up her array of attacking shots in the opening game of the contest David got off to a flying start. 11-3 is not the start most players would like to final, but El Weleily was not to be put off by the start, and stormed back into the match to hold a 10-2 lead over her opponent.  David began to chip away at the deficit, but the Egyptian showed more confidence in her front court game to see off a dominant second game win.

The Malaysian put herself back in front in a much closer third game tie, decided only in the final stages with David using her experience to force the errors from her opponent at 8-9 down to retake the lead with the third game.

A scrambled final rally ended as David clipped another drop into the tin to give her opponent the well-deserved title.  This was the Egyptian’s second defeat of the seven-time World Champion, the first coming in last year’s Malaysian Open final, and is the sixth WSA title of her career.

Read also:

http://en.africatopsports.com/2013/01/25/squashaustralia-graham-defend-toc-title-against-kasey/

 


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