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Women's Final:
[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [2] Jenny Duncalf (Eng)
11/7, 11/6, 12/14, 11/4 (59m)
It's three in a row for Nicol
It took an hour for
Nicol David to claim her third consecutive Cayman Open title,
prevailing in a high quality final against Jenny Duncalf in
front of a packed crowd at Camana Bay.
 Duncalf
for the most part played a patient game, and David plays that
way anyway for the most part, so it was a match of intricate
rallies with bursts of pace when necessary.
Jenny made a good start, leading 4-1 and 6-3, but from 7-6 down
Nicol reeled off five points in a row to take the lead.
With Jenny looking a little despondent at times thee Malaysian
opened up an 8-1 lead in the second, and although Jenny made a
late revival, it was too late as Nicol finished it off 10-6.
But the Englishwoman had some momentum now, and far from being
despondent, she seemed to revel in the patient rallies in the
third. The two victories she enjoyed over Nicol at the end of
2009 came about this way, out-Nicoling Nicol, and here it was
paying dividends again.
 From
6-4 Jenny opened out to earn five game balls at 10-5. You can
never count Nicol out though, ask Alison Waters who has seen so
many game balls go by, and Nicol mounted another of her
trademark comebacks.
Ball driven deep, Jenny's boast clips the tin, 10-6. Work your
opponent out of position, drop, 10-7. Tin, 10-8. Scramble like
mad then put in a winning volley drop, 10-9. Low crosscourt
driven to a perfect length, 10-all.
It had 12-10 to Nicol written all over it, and she did have
match balls at 11-10 (via a stroke) and 12-11, but despite her
frustration at losing the lead Jenny held it together to take
the game 14-12, smashing away a dropshot that wasn't good
enough.
And she made a good start in the fourth too, leading 4-1. But
that was as good as it got, Nicol reeled off the last seven
points unanswered. The ending was anticlimactic, Jenny sort of
half going for a length that she might have got to, and might
have asked for a let on.
She did neither, she just turned to a quizzical Nicol and
offered her hand.
 "I
tried to play more patient squash, to make it less work for me
as I'd had such a tough match yesterday, not rushing things,
giving myself more time. It worked at times, but just at the end
of the first and the second games I couldn't push on like she
did.
"I made it hard for myself in the third, to say the least, but
I'm glad I took that one, I wanted at least to make a real final
of it.
"The third took a lot out of me though, and in the fourth I just
couldn't summon up enough energy to push through. She realised
that and she made it hard for me.
"I managed to keep to a gameplan, which is good for me, I just
wish I could have pushed through a bit more at the end of games.
"It's been a great tournament, I love playing here, we all do!"
 "It
was really hot on there! Jenny played really well, especially in
the third, she just put a lot of shots in. I knew I just had to
work hard to get it back but couldn't quite make it.
"In the fourth she got a good start but I didn't want to let her
get too far ahead so I had to really focus and up my game from
that point. I'm happy to win 3/1, it was a tough match.
"It's so great being here in Cayman, the people are so friendly,
the sponsors put so much into the event, Dan does a great job
organising it and the crowd really make it a great tournament -
we're all looking forward to coming back next year for the World
Open !"
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