SHARM EL SHEIKH: Nicol David equaled the record of five World Open titles held by Australia’s Sarah Fitz-Gerald when she completed one of the most devastating spells of her career by beating Egypt’s Omneya Abdel-Kawy in Wednesday’s final.
It took only just over half an hour for David to win 11-5, 11-8 11-6 against the first Egyptian woman to reach a World Open final, and there was only one brief phase in the middle of the match when the outcome seemed in doubt.
That was when Abdel-Kawy’s great racket skills helped her carve out a 7-4 second game lead, but the champion responded immediately.
She did that by combining patient and high-paced rallying with well-chosen moments to make attacking ploys, most often with an accurate or clinging drop shot followed by a testing drive to the back.
"It’s amazing that I can do something that Sarah has done, because she’s such a great player," David said of the champion, who is now an important sparring partner.
"She’s helped me so much and — with my coach Liz (Irving) she’s been instrumental in what I have done."
Over the five days David’s performance suggested she was on another plane from all the other competitors and she did so in an environment of the barest rock, clearest sea, and flawless sky.
Abdel-Kawy fought to the end but it was too difficult for her to keep up with the physicality of David’s game, now supplemented with many more moments of creativity than she was once capable of.
She had to cope with a fast start from David, who was brought up on warm courts in Penang and found the humid conditions reasonably to her liking.
She may also have been pleased with the opening rally of fully 70 shots, which she won, and showed Abdel-Kawy immediately what a major physical challenge she faced.
Abdel-Kawy pegged back a three point deficit to one with some deft angles and clever changes of direction, but from 5-4 David took five points in a row and drew confidence from winning the first game well.
The home hope then had her best phase, scoring four points with clever winners at the start pf the second game, though the rallies were often still long, and that soon began to tell.
Abdel-Kawy reached 7-4 with a drop which caught the sidewall nick perfectly, but within two minutes the match started to tumble away from her.
David made a run of six points, three of them from Abdel-Kawy hitting the ball down, and one from when the fourth seed struck the glass with the service return and not the ball.
The crowd tried to lift Abdel-Kawy as they returned for the third game, but the match had already taken its decisive twist.
David was soon 3-1 up and then 7-2 with Abdel-Kawy enduring the added frustration of a bad bounce near the backhand back corner, causing her to bang the ball into the court in annoyance.
This was though a good-tempered match, and a revealing one: David, who looked as though she had a couple of challengers breathing down her neck a year ago, now looks far ahead of the field.
At the end both players were showered with confetti, and David made a speech reminding everyone that the match was a repeat of their world junior final a decade ago.
"My focus was strong throughout the tournament," she said later when asked to evaluate.
"I really wanted this. I didn’t want to let it slip."
