No panic stations from Massaro in world squash title defence

World champion Laura Massaro believes that surviving an entire day of near panic before the final in Penang nine months ago has given her a better chance of becoming the first Englishwoman ever to make a successful world title defence this week.
Massaro, who has a rest day before playing Annie Au of Hong Kong tomorrow for a place in the quarter-finals, says she will draw on memories of her extreme ordeal last time to help deal with new challenges here.   
“There’s these different levels of nervousness,” the 31-year-old Lancastrian said with a hint of humour. “There’s the nervousness when playing for England, which is worse than that when you’re playing for yourself, and then there’s Penang nervousness, which is something else.
“That’s the most nervous I have ever been in my life by far, and it helps me to know I can win a world fial, even when I have been like that.
“So, yes, going into this World Championship I am going at some point to have to handle pressure, so hopefully I can use it here. If things go well I will use the experience here. If not, I can always put it in the bank.”
If Massaro does succeed again she will be the first player ever to win three world titles in a year. The 2013 and 2014 World Championships have been staged within nine months of each other and last week Massaro headed an England squad which won the world team title back at Niagara Falls.
However the outdoor conditions in night time Cairo are unique, while the field is possibly the strongest in depth there has ever been, and the top seed is Nicol David, a seven-time champion who has been world number one for more than 100 consecutive months.
The second-seeded Massaro has also had trouble in the past with the unorthodox left-handed skills of Au, the world number nine.
Against that, Massaro was extremely resilient last night in falling temperatures while resisting the challenge of Mariam Metwally, a very talented 18-year-old.
The young Egyptian earned a game ball in the second game and was well in contention till 7-8 in the fourth game of a 11-3, 13-11, 8-11, 11-7 defeat.
“I didn’t feel that happy with my performance at first,” Massaro admitted. “My initial reaction was one of disappointment with my focus more than anything else.
“But having spoken with Camps (David Campion, England coach) and with Danny (husband and psychologist), they seemed pretty happy with the performance - given the conditions and the fact that Mariam is young and talented and she had the home crowd, which came into it in the middle of the third and fourth games.”
As for Annie Au, she is “massively dangerous,” according to Massaro. “I’ve had a few tough ones with her, but I managed to get two 3-0 wins over her - at the British Open, and at the world teams last week.
“She really taxes you with her ball control and touch, so it will be a case of taking her strengths away from her if I am to have a chance of winning.”
Only then will Massaro start looking ahead to a draw which has placed in her half the fifth-seeded Alison Waters, a fellow member of the world team title winning squad, and Raneem El Weleily, the world number three from Egypt.
Instead Massaro will spend the day practising on the glass court at the Wadi Degla club venue and perhaps casting an eye on David’s efforts as the Malaysian’s bid for an eighth world title moves to a second round against a surprise survivor, Emily Whitlock, a young English qualifier.
Source: AFP