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Frans
Otten Stadion
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20-27 September 2009
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TODAY
at the Women's World Open
27th Sep, Day
EIGHT, The Final
Steve
& Framboise in Amsterdam |
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[1]
Nicol David (Mas) bt [2] Natalie Grinham
(Ned)
3/11, 11/6,
11/3, 11/8 (51m)
Nicol wins
Amsterdam's Dream Final
 It
was
the final all of Amsterdam wanted - the
World Number One and defending champion
against the host nation's own favourite.
Over recent years Nicol David and Natalie
Grinham have contested countless major WISPA
finals, one of the most memorable being
their epic98-minute
2006 World Open final
in Belfast.
 It
was asking a lot for a repeat of that match
... but we had two players who gave their all to get their hands
on that famous trophy, but in the end it was
Nicol winning a fourth title in five years
... |
Photo Galleries
eXXtras/En Bref
Howard's Roundup
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[1]
Nicol David (Mas) bt [2] Natalie Grinham
(Ned)
3/11, 11/6,
11/3, 11/8 (51m)
Nicol
still the Queen
Just as she was in yesterday's semi-final,
Nicol David was comprehensively outplayed in
the first game, only to fight back to take
the next three games, but this time the
reward was to keep her World Open crown.
The first, with Natalie stroking the ball to
the corners and Nicol looking
uncharacteristically nervous and tentative,
set the crowd's expectations, but from the
start of the second the real Nicol was back,
and from then on the match resembled their
2006 showdown in Belfast.
 Long
rallies, each probing with boasts and drops
without taking too much of a risk, but ready
to pounce on anything loose as the tempo
exploded to finish the rally. It's a game
both are comfortable with, but as the match
wore on it was the Malaysian who began to
look more in her comfort zone, the
Dutchwoman fighting more and more of a
rearguard battle.
Nicol pulled away from 5-all in the second
to level, then took a relatively quick 7-1
lead in the third which she was never going
to let slip.
The fourth was close again, Natalie leading
the early stages 3-1, 5-2, building it to
8-6 and a decider looked likely. But Nicol,
now looking full of purpose, took four
points in a row to reach championship ball.
She needed a second opportunity, went
forward for Natalie's drop, turned to the
referees, and after what much have been an
agonising delay for both the verdict came
... "stroke to David, match to David."
Nicol had looked vulnerable this week,
looked vulnerable again today, but every
time she came through ... still the Queen. |
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 "It’s
so difficult to play against Natalie, she
keeps getting everything back. We’ve battled
so many times, she wants it bad, and so do
I!!!!
"Winning that first game gave her
confidence, for me, it was a question of
“not a good game, now move on”. In the
fourth, those points at 8/8, 9/9, there were
so important, so crucial, I had to raise my
game to take her confidence away from her,
so I just went for it.
"I wouldn’t be winning my fourth title
without the people that have been supporting
me, my parents, who have been behind me all
my life, and Liz, of course, whose been
there for four titles, and is still patient
enough to take care of me. And thanks to
Ronald to look after my body…
"Without the sponsors, we wouldn’t have an
event, so thanks to Forexx for supporting
us, and all the other sponsors, thanks to
all the people in the background that have
made a great job, Tommy Berden and his team,
and thanks to the crowd, here, in Amsterdam,
my second home now…
"To come back from last week, and this week
this, it’s an amazing feeling for me, I
don’t know what I’m saying, in fact, I can’t
believe it still…. Four titles!!!"
|
 "When
I think of how sick I was at the start of
the year, and being able to get a silver
medal in the Worlds is a great achievement
in a way, I’m really delighted to be
competing again at such a high level.
"But I’ve been second three times already,
and I didn’t come here to be second, so of
course disappointed.
"I wish there was more to play, I’m even
more disappointed because I thought I was in
it, I wish I could play that second game
again, and forget the third one!!
"I guess she started and was being a bit
tense, then relaxed, and for me, it was the
reverse, I didn’t beat her for a long time,
so I went in no pressure, completely
relaxed, and then started thinking, hold on,
I could be wining this, starting thinking
too much about what I was doing, and tensed
up…"
|
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 "Of
course I wish my wife would have won her
first world title here today, but Nicol was
better, and that is something I can live
with, that today, Nicol was playing better
than Natalie.
"And we had a dream final, the number one
and two in the tournament, actually the best
two players playing on the circuit at the
moment, a great match, happy there…
"From the organiser point of view, very
happy, everything went smoothly, except for
the few things that nobody seemed to notice,
so very happy indeed…"
 |
 NICOL
GROWING UP….
“I knew it was going to be tough”… Famous
words from Nicol, she always starts her
after match interviews like that. And that’s
probably her biggest strength. Never
underestimate anybody, always expect a tough
battle, and be ready for it…
She started her match a bit tentatively, she
made some awful bad backhand drop shots and
her lengths on that side were not that tight
either. “For about two weeks, Nicol's been
experiencing problems on that side, for some
reason,” confirmed Liz Irving, Nicol’s coach
after the match.
And of course, that coincided with a
splendidly relaxed Natalie who found a
superb length and gorgeous drop shots. So
superbly in fact that we thought ‘that’s it,
this is the day Natalie gets it”.
Unfortunately, Nat probably thought it too,
and started thinking in the second…. Big
mistake girl…
Feeling her opponent all stressed up, Nicol
gave it a push, running after whatever Nat
was throwing at her, making her doubt and
play a much higher percentage game.
 But the most amazing is that from retriever,
Nicol became attacker in the fourth, and
found some astonishingly lethal drop shots
from all positions in the court. By then,
Natalie was a bit tired from all the
enormous work she had been producing all
match long during those massive rallies in
the first, second, and start of the fourth.
She still had the heart, but Nicol had the
legs… You know the rest of the story…
The pure joy that Nicol felt was obvious to
us all, she was extremely emotional when
receiving the trophy, and I cannot remember
such sustained applause during a trophy
ceremony in squash ever. The crowd was
obviously under the charm of those two
girls, and no wonder… They produced a
stunning final, yet again…. |
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