Quickfire David starts title bid in style

Malaysia's Nicol David began her bid for unprecedented eighth women’s world championship title in sizzling fashion Tuesday, dispatching England’s Emma Beddoes in straight games 11-9, 11-5, 11-8. Backed by a vociferous 1,000-strong crowd in her home island of Penang, David took a short while to get into the match as Beddoes went to a 3-0 lead and then matched the world number one 9-9 in the first game. But David, 31, used her experience and court craft to prevail 11-9, and it was all downhill for the Englishwoman after that as the seven-time winner's game sharpened significantly. David swept the second game 11-5 and after some late resistance, the Malaysian took the third game 11-8 to wrap up a straightforward win in just 36 minutes. David will next face Egyptian qualifier Heba El Torky, who produced the upset of the day with a 13-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-8 win over world number eight Annie Au of Hong Kong. Another surprise came from Guyana’s Nicolette Fernandes, who slayed 2007 world champion and former world number one Rachael Grinham of Australia 4-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-7. The bottom half of the championship table starts on Wednesday, with second seed Laura Massaro of England playing Malaysian wildcard Vanessa Raj. Third seed Raneem El Weleily meanwhile takes on fellow Egyptian Salma Hany. Source: AFP