SkySports continued their live coverage at Queens Club in London, for the
final day of the event that saw the reigning world No1 contain a spirited
challenge from Madeline Perry, ranked two places below her.
Perry, who knocked out England’s home hope Jenny Duncalf in yesterday’s
semi final, played a confident game from the start and took an early lead
in the first game. David wasn’t going to let her opponent build up too
much of an advantage however, and was always within touching distance.
The scores stayed tight right the way up to 9-all, with Perry stepping
forward to volley early and easily matching the higher seed for width and
precision. It was only at this stage that David upped the pace, working
Perry out of position and finishing off two rallies to take the first game
11/9.
This became the pattern for the rest of the match too. Neither player was
ever more than three points away from one another, as the finalists seemed
to cancel each other out with their efforts. Similarly, at 9-all in the
second game, Nicol again found an extra half-yard of pace and her lethal
attacking shots saw off the second game in her favour, also 11/9.
Just as in the previous games, the score-line showed exactly how closely
fought this contest was, with every bit of ground gained by one player, the
other would immediately pull level. The standard of line and length squash
on display was at it’s highest all week and easily the most closely matched
contest of the week. Again the scores were tied at 8-8 and again, Perry
seemed to lack the quality finishing in the most important periods of the
match. David on the other hand, held game-ball’s in the first two games
and finished each off on the first time of asking. Match-ball was a
similar story, with Perry managing to reduce the deficit by one point
before David claimed the title as her own.
The Malaysian played five matches this week and dropped just one game,
coming at the hand of Laura Massaro in the semi finals. No player deserved
a game more than Perry today for a sterling effort against the world No1
but on this occasion it wasn’t to be.
David said after winning the title: “Winning the World Series Finals title
is a great start to 2012 and having the top 8 players here and contending
for it makes it very special. It’s never easy but I’ve felt good all week
and very pleased to be playing well. Hopefully there’s more to come!
“Knowing that tonight was going to be a longer game felt weird after
playing best of three all week. It felt like a longer game today, which is
strange as yesterday I played three game too, but I don’t tend to approach
matches differently depending on that. I played well during the crucial
points tonight and I’m delighted to have won.”
*ATCO World Series Final*
Nicol David bt Madeline Perry – 11/9, 11/9, 11/9 in 41mins
