Nicol David and Amr Shabana secure fourth consecutive titles in Hong Kong

By Rod Gilmour
From Telegraph.co.uk

World No 1's Nicol David and Amr Shabana won their fourth consecutive Hong Kong Open titles after two compelling finals.

David, the Malaysian who is now unbeaten since the 2007 World Open, beat Australia's Rachael Grinham 3-1 and stretched her winning run to over 50 matches on her way to the title.

Three years ago, David became the first Asian woman to win the World Open title after defeating Grinham in an easy win."You are now more famous than me" was the Malaysian Prime Minister's response.

David hasn't looked back and has since seen off any threat to securing titles with consummate ease. However, she had to work harder against the Australian at the picturesque Harbour location.

After winning the first game 14-12, David then lost a close second 11-13 before coming through the next two 11-8 to hail Hong Kong as "my lucky charm".

Shabana, of Egypt, had a much tougher encounter and looked in trouble at 2-1 down against rival Frenchman Gregory Gaultier but came back powerfully to win the last two games in just 14 minutes.

The world No 1, who had dropped games in each of his games prior to the final, managed to keep the trend going as Gaultier levelled at 1-1 before bagging the next to lead 2-1.

Shabana picked his game up in the fourth and with Gaultier trying to save himself for the decider, the Egyptian closed it out 11-2. But the Egyptian wasn't going to let a fourth crown go begging and wrapped up the 76-minute win minutes later.

"It doesn't get any harder than that," admitted Shabana afterwards. "I'm so happy to win my fourth title. That's an amazing feeling and for that I have to thank God."