Nicol David Celebrates Fourth Malaysian Open Title
The Malaysian's stunning victory over her long-time rival means that David now shares the four-title record with retired Australian Michelle Martin, also a former Prince player!
The event was the first in which the 24-year-old world number one competed as a 'Datuk' - having become the youngest Malaysian to be conferred a Datukship in her home state of Penang earlier this month.
Nicol David will also go down in squash history as the first winner of a WISPA World Tour title to be decided by the international player body's new 'Pro-Scoring' system.
After taking four games to win her previous two matches, David gave every indication that she is now fully comfortable with point-a-rally game scoring to 11 points by beating Grinham 11-1, 11-4, 11-6 in just 31 minutes.
The victory, in her sixth successive appearance in the Malaysian Open final, marked David's seventh successive Tour title since winning the Qatar Classic in November.
"This was probably one of my best matches ever," David told reporters afterwards.
When reminded that her fourth title win equalled the achievement of former world number one Michelle Martin, David added: "It's such a great honour to be up there with her!"
Nicol David's racquet choice is the Prince O3 Speedport Black - and she is undefeated since taking up the new racquet in April.
Since joining the brand in 2005, David has established a remarkable record - reaching the finals in 26 of the 28 WISPA World Tour events in which she has competed!