Kingston upon Hull, United Kingdom--Nicol David, the multiple record-breaker who has been world number one for 106 months, faces a renewed challenge to her dominance when she begins the defence of her British Open title.
David is seeded to meet Raneem El Weleily in the final in Hull and the improving Egyptian has shown signs of being able to match the Malaysian great.
El Weleily beat David two months ago in Chicago and, three months previously she had four match points against David in Cairo before losing the most exciting world final of them all.
Although the 31-year-old David has appeared out of reach during most of the last eight years, El Weleily has whittled down her lead in the rankings to fewer than 600 points.
That's a narrowing of the gap by 850 since the start of the year and, at the age of 26, she is still moving towards her peak.
David, however, has reasons for feeling good about this week's venue, a North Sea port with regular ferries to and from her adopted home city of Amsterdam.
It was in Hull last year that she won an absorbing showdown with Laura Massaro, the English woman who had beaten her in the previous British Open final and had not long succeeded her as world champion.
AFP
