RESULTS: CIMB Singapore Masters, Singapore
Quarter-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [7] Kasey Brown (AUS) 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (40m)
[6] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [Q] Annie Au (HKG) 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4 (54m)
[3] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [8] Camille Serme (FRA) 12-10, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6 (43m)
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [5] Natalie Grainger (USA) 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 (20m)
Top seed Nicol David turned in a composed performance today (Thursday) to despatch world No9 Kasey Brown 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 to reach the last four of the CIMB Singapore Women's Masters, the $53,500 WISPA World Tour Gold squash event at Kallang Leisure Park in Singapore.
The Malaysian world number one stayed patient throughout the 40-minute encounter, working long rallies to her advantage and making her Australian opponent work just a little harder to keep up.
At times it was almost brutal as David kept her mistakes to the minimum and never allowed Brown to get comfortable in the four-side glass court at Leisure Mall
Brown was magnanimous in defeat: "Nicol is just super quick around the court. I had a game plan in mind but didn't execute it properly. She wasn't giving much away at all throughout the match, even when I was trying to slow the game down.
"At times it felt like I had to win the rallies several times over just to get a point!" added the 24-year-old from New South Wales.
The victory sets up an intriguing semi-final for David against Northern Ireland's Madeline Perry, who ended Annie Au's Singapore run 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4.
Ten months ago, the Penangite suffered one of her four defeats in 2009 to Perry in the quarter-finals of the British Open.
But David is not about to let memories of the 76-minute match in Manchester play on her mind: "I bounced back quickly from that defeat and went on to win the World Open right after that. Right now, I'm feeling fit and am staying focused for the next match," said David.
The other semi-final will be between second-seeded Rachael Grinham and England's Alison Waters, the third seed.
Waters survived a third game wobble to beat France's Camille Serme in four in the first meeting between the two in 18 months. And eighth seed Serme saw positives despite losing: "I have improved a lot in the last year, and I always want to meet the higher-ranked player to see how much I've closed the gap with them."
Commenting on the match with Londoner Waters, the Frenchwoman added: "I had a bad start in game four, and that put a stop to my comeback."
And, whilst the first three editions of the Singapore Masters final have been won by David, they have invariably featured one of the Grinham sisters. World No3 Rachael made sure that could still happen after despatching WISPA President Natalie Grainger in 20 minutes.
"It was never going to be a long match with Natalie," said Grinham. "She always goes for her shots and even if we went to five games it would be quick."
Looking ahead to her encounter with Waters, the 33-year-old Queenslander said: "Alison creamed me in our last three or four matches, and she's in pretty good form. So I'm in for another tough match tomorrow.
"I'm still getting back to full match fitness having not played tournaments since April, and lasted one match in Malaysia last week," added the former world number one.
The Australian's quick wins over Grainger, and Singapore's Pamela Chua in round one, would hardly have given her the workout she needed.
"Maybe I'll practice with Nicol tomorrow morning seeing as Alison's likely to get her hits with Perry!"
Semi-final line-up:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) v [6] Madeline Perry (IRL)
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v [3] Alison Waters (ENG)