The match of the evening should have been the number ones from these two last teams, Nicol David of Malaysia hoping to get revenge on Omneya Abdel Kawy who had beaten her in five in their last meeting in Texas in March. They started the match with Egypt ahead, Salma Shabana having beaten Tricia Chuah in straight game in 32 minutes.

Kawy started off in fine style, her racket skills remarkable but especially her volley drops. Even at full stretch, she would stick out her racket and the ball would hit the front wall an inch above the tin and die. She was totally relaxed while David seemed jaded and lifeless. There was little excitement as Kawy won 9-3 in seven minutes. Still in the same mood she led 7-4 in the second, but points suddenly became harder to win as David knuckled down and started hitting the ball harder to the back. Her tactics worked and she turned the game around in dramatic fashion as she overhauled Kawy to win 9-7 in just two hands.

The effect on Kawy was quite dramatic; it was though all effort had evaporated and she no longer had the slightest interest in winning. In five minutes David, who has never been known to give up in her life, had the third game 9-1. Kawy seemed a little more interested in the fourth, taking a 3-1 lead, but as soon as David hit the ball past her to taker her third point, it was all over. She did not even make a pretence of trying and couldn’t wait for the referee to call 9-3 in David’s favour so she could get off the court.

The match was now tied at one rubber apiece and we can only assume that Kawy was quite sure that Egypt would take the second strings. Nicol David however was happy to have taken revenge over the young Egyptian, admitting that it had started badly.

“I gave her time for her shots and all her shots were coming off. In the second game I increased the pace of my game and tried not to give her the time for her shots. I just kept driving and she seemed to give up,” said the diminutive David.

Sadly all her efforts were in vain for Malaysia as Maha Zein out played Sharon Wee in three games lasting 32 minutes. Wee is a good player, moves well, knows when to go for the kill and retrieves well. The point was Zein did all those things, but did them better. This is a fine Egyptian team and while they may not finish higher than fourth, their potential is enormous: in two years they will be contenders for the title and in four unbeatable.

AUSTRALIA CRUISE

THE SCHOENE MRS TILLMAN
The Dane got all excited when they won the first rubber, but the former Sabine Schoene, now Mrs Tillman, played wonderful squash, volleying everything within reach to beat Ellen Hambourg Petersen in four games. Petersen, did well to take a game from the very experienced Tillman, but even when she led in the fourth, you could see Sabine go up a gear to take the game. Karin Beriere had little trouble in beating Line Hansen to ensure the German win and a place in the 9-12 group.

WONDERFUL(?) WONDERFUL (!) COPENHAGEN
Because the centre court here is not made by the sponsor, McWil Courtwall, and they have some important prospects, from Russia even, coming to see the semi-finals, we are all being shipped into Copenhagen to the Herlev Club where McWil have their latest state-of–the- art glass squash court ready for launching. This is fun (?) for us of course, but how the players will enjoy playing on two entirely different courts in two days (we come back to Odense for the final on Saturday).