Nicol retains US Open title

Malaysia's squash queen Datuk Nicol Ann David retained her US Open title for the second successive year after defeating England's Laura Massaro 3-2 in the final, Friday.

The current world's number one won her maiden US Open title last year when she defeated Egypt's Raneem El Weleily in the final.

In this year's final, Nicol beat Laura 13-11, 11-13, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5 in a gruelling five-set thriller which lasted one hour and 24 minutes at Drexel University, Philadelphia at 7pm Friday (7am Malaysian time, Saturday).

Nicol fought hard to take the first set 13-11 but Laura came out strongly to win the second and third set, 13-11 and 11-7.

However, that was as far as Laura could go before Nicol took control to win the next two games 11-8 and 11-5. --