RESULTS: Women's Seoul Open Squash Championship, Seoul, South Korea

 

Final:

[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 9-5, 10-9, 9-6 (41m)

 

 

Malaysia's Nicol David triumphed in straight games over her great rival Rachael Grinham in the final of the Women's Seoul Open to win the $60,000 squash event in its second year in the South Korean capital Seoul in glorious style.

 

The Australian world champion led in all three games, but the 24-year-old from Penang always had an answer on the al-glass court in Seoul Plaza - and after 41 minutes clinched a 9-5, 10-9, 9-6 victory to maintain her unbeaten record in 2008, and extend her winning run on the WISPA World Tour since October to 26 matches.

 

Second seed Grinham summed up her performance, saying:  "I don’t think that I am going to win by playing length against Nicol.  At 7-2 in the first, she dug in more and in that game and the others maybe I was sometimes too eager to get in short."

 

The Cairo-based 31-year-old from Queensland had been undergoing intense physiotherapy treatment for a back problem since arriving in Seoul:  "I definitely cannot complain, as I played much better than I expected at the beginning of the week," added Grinham.  "I am happy to have had an okay game against Nicol.  And the crowd helps as they get really excited."

 

The victor was asked about her opponent going in short on a regular basis:  "I sort of knew that it would happen," replied the Malaysian super star.  "If it comes in it goes in.  I couldn’t do much for a while until I could get her away from the tee.

 

"I was really excited to come back to Seoul. There is such a great welcome from everybody," added the new champion.

 

With both finalists boasting 27 Tour titles apiece before the final, the success takes David ahead of Grinham.  Now leading the pack of current WISPA players, David shares fourth place in the all-time WISPA title-winners list with England's former world number one Cassie Jackman, now retired.  In her sights in the top three places are New Zealand's Susan Devoy and Australians Sarah Fitz-Gerald (62 titles) and Michelle Martin (56).