AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, CMC – Malaysia’s World No.1 Nicol David used a super come-from-behind performance to dismiss arch-rival Natalie Grinham in the Forexx Women’s World Open final on Sunday.
Grinham, the second seed and World No.2, won the first game but David roared back for her fourth World Open title in five years by winning 3-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-8.
David looked uncharacteristically nervous and tentative at the start and Grinham won the first game with surprising ease before the top seed changed gears and found her best form.
In the fourth game, Grinham led 8-6 and appeared set to push the final into a fifth game, but David pulled ahead again and won on her second match ball to close out victory in 51 minutes.
“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,” David said.
“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,” added David, who has reigned as World No.1 unbroken for the past three years.
The win added to World Open titles David had in 2005, 2006, and 2008.
Australian Grinham, who had won in 2007, was shattered by the result.
“I’ve been second three times already and I didn’t come here to be second again, so of course I’m disappointed,” said Grinham, who is based in the Netherlands.
The Caribbean’s top player Nicolette Fernandes appeared in the tournament but failed to enter the main draw after losing her second-round qualifying match last Monday to Hong Kong’s Joey Chan.
