Nicol David & Bradley Ball Win Dutch Open Titles

Malaysia's Nicol David and England's Bradley Ball survived two dramatic five-game finals of the Mamut Dutch Open to lift the women's and men's titles, respectively, in Almere.

It was a fitting climax to a memorable week for Asian superstar Nicol David, whose career-high No3 world ranking announced by WISPA at the beginning of the month has been hailed in her home country as "the best ever position by a Malaysian sportsperson".

Clearly spurred on by her new status, third seed David trounced local heroine Vanessa Atkinson, the top seed and world champion from The Hague, in the semi-finals to make a claim on the Dutch player's world number two ranking!

However, in the final against fourth seed Linda Elriani - the British national champion from England who pulled off an upset over Australian title-holder Natalie Grinham in the other semi-final - David fell two games behind as the experienced 33-year-old world No6 from Eastbourne took control.

But in the third game, the 21-year-old from Penang began to make her mark, taking the ball earlier as Elriani started to show signs of fatigue. The Netherlands-based Malaysian took the game and dictated the pace in the fourth to force the match into a fifth-game decider.

Elriani threw everything she could into the final game, but the petite Asian raced away from 3-3 to clinch the match, and the title, 4-9 2-9 9-3 9-3 9-3. It was David's third WISPA World Tour title of the year, and the sixth of her career.

The men's final also featured a player buoyed by a career-best world ranking in the latest list: Top seed Bradley Ball rose to a career-high 24 in the June Dunlop PSA list and was eager to claim his first title of the year. His opponent Davide Bianchetti, the fourth seed from Italy, took the opening advantage, winning the first game after 25 minutes.

It was only seven minutes later, however, that Ball evened the score - but in the topsy-turvy encounter, it was the Italian who won the third game and looked likely to go on to win the title.

However, Ball is known for never giving up and fought his way back into the match by winning the fourth game. The 28-year-old from Ipswich in Suffolk maintained his momentum in the decider to register a 9-11 11-1 5-11 11-6 11-6 victory and claim his first Dutch Open crown, and the 11th PSA title of his career.

Men's final:
[1] Bradley Ball (ENG) bt [4] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 9-11, 11-1, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6

Women's final:
[3] Nicol David (MAS) bt [4] Linda Elriani (ENG) 4-9, 2-9, 9-3, 9-3, 9-3