Massaro And David During The British Open
Hong Kong Update: Massaro Downs World No.1 To Reach Third Consecutive World Series Final
England’s Laura Massaro extended her wining streak on the PSA World Tour to 14 matches after a stunning display saw her defeat World No.1 Raneem El Welily to reach the final of the 2015 Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open.
The victory, which Massaro wrapped up in comprehensive fashion after just 33 minutes, sees her move into a third consecutive PSA World Series tournament final where she’ll be hoping to add to the Delaware Investments U.S. Open and Qatar Classic crowns she has already collected so far during the 2015/16 season.
The 32-year-old World No.2 played with accuracy and positivity as she outclased a mis-firing El Welily with the victory assuring that Massaro will now top the World Rankings for the first time in her career come January 1st.
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SUBSCRIBE TODAY“I’m really, really happy to be in another World Series final,” said Massaro, who will face defencing champion Nicol David in the title-decider.
“I’ve never made it to the final at this tournament so I’m excited for tomorrow.
“I felt like I was in a good place before the match today and I knew how important it was to get off to a strong start as I haven’t beaten her for a while but thankfully that’s exactly what I did. It was tough in the third, and I was getting a little nervous, but I was very pleased to see it out.
“But I can’t get too excited with the win because there’s still another match to go and a job to do and I’ll be preparing for another big battle with Nicol tomorrow.”
On hearing the news that she will become World No.1 in January Massaro said: “The World No.1 has been a huge mountain that I’ve been climbing and it’s certainly come as a great early Christmas present.
“It means everything to me. I trained hard over the summer after taking a break and the focus was all about competing and challenging for major titles. It’s gone better than I could have expected, winning three titles already, and I knew that if I could hit my goals of winning titles then the rankings would take care of itself.”
Result: Semi-finals: Women’s 2015 Hong Kong Open
[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 (33m)