The longest women's final on record, and one of the classics as well...and Nicol only led in the fifth game...phew...and she has now extended her winning streak to 33 matches...the result Nicol-Natalie 1-9, 9-7, 3-9, 9-5, 9-2.
"I'm so glad that match is over!"In the first I was just waiting to see if she was going to try to do something from the back corners, but she just kept it going, which made me want to do things and I made a few errors.
"She was giving nothing away, and at times I was wondering what I could do."I had to reassess my game and play safe for a long time. I was having doubts about my shots as she was getting them all back, so I just had to not give anything away.
"There were rallies and rallies, crazy rallies all the time - I was forced to wait as she was giving me nothing to attack.""Then, in the end, she gave me a few opportunities. In the fifth I had to make sure I got a lead, and I had just enough left to take it on from there.
"I'm so pleased with the way I played, it took so much to be patient, not to go for shots just for the sake of it."I didn't realise how much pressure I was under until the last shot, then it all just hit me. At the end my head just went, the sudden relief hit me.
"It was my first time as number one and world champion, and I knew everyone was expecting me to win, so at the end I just let it all out."
A BIG CONGRATULATIONS!!!
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