Massaro checks David’s semis hopes

DUBAI — Legendary Malaysian Nicol David saw the certainty of a semifinal place slip from her grasp as an old rival, Laura Massaro, snatched victory from the edge of defeat in the group stages of the PSA World Series finals. The eight-time former world champion could still qualify for the semifinals and perhaps go on to capture the PSA tour’s season-ending flagship title for the third time in a row, if she wins her last group match against world junior champion Nouran Gohar Thursday. To do that she will need to erase the disappointment of a 6-3 lead which was unexpectedly pegged back during the final game of an 11-7, 8-11, 11-7 loss against Massaro. Massaro was aided crucially by a mistimed volley from David on the tenth point of that deciding game. It cost the titleholder a penalty point which took Massaro to 4-6 and ended some attacking momentum that David had been developing from midway through the second game. From that moment on Massaro turned the match around with a winning sequence of eight rallies out of nine. Massaro, whose last group match is against the American Amanda Sobhy, now appears to be on the verge of a semifinal place, though world champion Nour El Sherbini, a solid straight-games winner over her Egyptian compatriot Omneya Abdel Kawy, can only qualify if she beats the similarly ambitious Camille Serme of France. Men’s world champion Gregory Gaultier was at his flamboyant best, issuing a challenge with both words and deeds that he is ready and ambitious to win a title for which world No. 1 Mohamed Elshorbagy is firm favorite. The 33-year-old Frenchman brilliantly overcame Cameron Pilley, the in-form Australian, 11-1, 11-3 to ensure he was the first man to qualify for the semis, and then spoke boldly of what this event means to him. “I am going to try everything I can to win it, because winning something like this can be one of the highlights of my career,” said the player, who six months ago made history by becoming the oldest man to win the world title for the first time. The unlucky Pilley did not do much wrong, but in truth there was little that could be done against a great player in relaxed mood and inspired form. Gaultier was supremely accurate down the backhand wall, played at a high pace, and injected lethal drop shots with few signs of when they were about to come. Despite this, Elshorbagy underlined his status as favorite with the professional manner in which he contained the startlingly athletic Miguel Angel Rodriguez in an 11-8, 11-9 win, which earned him his second victory and guaranteed him a place in the last four. That spot was secured with the defeat of Nick Matthew, the third-seeded three-time former world champion, for whom this may be the last chance of winning the title outright, after sharing the crown in the unfinished 2012 edition. The 35-year-old Englishman was beaten 12-10, 11-6 by Mathieu Castagnet, the second best Frenchman, who might yet qualify if he upsets the seedings again by denying the in-form fifth-seeded Rodriguez tomorrow.