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Hong Kong Open 2010:
Final Profiles
Jenny Duncalf
England's Jenny Duncalf is a past winner of the European Junior
title, two-time British National Champion, and at the age of 27
has held her highest world ranking of #2 for most of 2010.
She enjoyed a spectacular end to 2009, winning three major
tournaments in a row.
In May this year she captured the European Individual title for
the third time, but she is still waiting to win her first WISPA
title of the year.
Yesterday Jenny beat fellow-Englishwoman Alison Waters to reach
the Hong Kong Open final for the first time.
Nicol David
Defending champion Nicol David is the most successful Malaysian
female squash player of all time, and is rapidly becoming one of
the all-time greats.
She was the first player to win the world junior title twice,
won the first of her four senior world titles here in Hong Kong
in 2005, and became world number one in January 2006, a ranking
she has held continuously for the last four years.
In 2010 she has already won all five of the WISPA Gold
tournaments she has entered, and comes into today’s match on a
run of 34 matches unbeaten as she aims to win an unprecedented
six consecutive titles in Hong Kong after celebrating her 27th
birthday here two days ago.
Yesterday Nicol beat Australia’s Rachael Grinham to reach
today’s final.
They have played each other 23 times since meeting in the
British Junior Open in 1997. Nicol has won 21 of those matches,
but Jenny’s two successes both came at the end of last year, and
she is the last player to have beaten Nicol …
Gregory Gaultier
France’s Gregory Gaultier, 27 years old, is a former world
number one, twice a world open finalist, five times European
Champion, and has 17 PSA titles to his name.
He has appeared in the last three Hong Kong Open finals, losing
each time to five-time winner Amr Shabana, but he sensationally
beat the Egyptian defending champion in the quarter-finals, and
yesterday beat England’s Peter Barker to reach his fourth Hong
Kong final in a row.
When asked “fourth time lucky?”, he replied that you need more
than luck to win matches like that, but maybe it is his turn
this time in Hong Kong after all …
Ramy Ashour
Egypt’s Ramy Ashour was the first player ever to win the world
junior title twice, in 2004 and 2006, and the first player ever
to win the first PSA tournament he entered.
At the age of 22 he already has 15 PSA titles to his name,
including the senior World Championship in 2008, and at the end
of 2009 he became world number one for the first time.
It was here in Hong Kong in 2006 where he burst onto the senior
scene, finishing runner-up to Amr Shabana, but has not got past
the quarter-finals since – he says it’s time he did better in
Hong Kong, and yesterday he beat fellow Egyptian Karim Darwish
to reach the final.
They have played each other ten times. Gregory won the first
three, Ramy has won the last three and leads 6-4. As an added
incentive, if Ramy wins today he will regain the world number
one position when the September world rankings are announced …
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