El Welily Reclaims Malaysian Open Title

Raneem El Welily survived the first ever all-Egyptian Women's CIMB Malaysian Open final to reclaim the coveted WSA World Series Gold squash title for the second time in three years.

The third seed reached the final for the third year in a row after beating top seed Nicol David in the semis and dashing the Malaysian star's hopes of a ninth title.

El Welily's opponent Nour El Tayeb had achieved one of the best runs of her career to reach the final on the all-glass showcourt in the Malaysian capital's Nu Sentral shopping mall: Seeded 16, the 21-year-old from Cairo upset second seed Laura Massaro, the world champion, and No8 seed Madeline Perry in quick succession before crushing Amanda Sobhy, the No10 from the USA, in just 26 minutes in the semis.

And underdog El Tayeb, ranked 25 in the world, took compatriot Welily the full distance in the final - eager to repeat her recent first ever win over the world No3.

But after scoring only two points in the fourth game, El Welily regained the upper hand in the decider to close out the match 7-11, 11-3, 12-10, 2-11, 11-7 after 40 minutes.

"Nour has done really well in to be in the final," El Welily told Zheng Guan from The Star "We both have the same coach and we know each other's games. That was obvious as she read my game.

"I think she is a very tough opponent to face as she is also very talented and has great racquet skills," added the Alexandria-born 25-year-old who now has seven WSA World Tour titles to her credit.

"It was obviously a very tough mental game and I'm happy to have won it. Also I'm happy to win because it's been a while since I've made a final!"

El Tayeb was far from unhappy with her performance: "I think I played well and I really gave it everything I had.

"Raneem is my big sister and I'm happy for her that she won the tournament."

Malaysian Open image courtesy of Mohd Roslan Hisam