Laura Massaro

Laura Massaro
Full name Laura Jane Lengthorn
Country  England
Residence Preston, England
Born (1983-11-02) 2 November 1983
Great Yarmouth, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight 66 kilograms (146 lb)
Turned Pro 2000
Plays Right Handed
Coached by David Pearson, Daniel Massaro
Racquet used Head
Women's singles and doubles
Highest ranking No. 1 (January, 2016)
Current ranking No. 2 (May, 2016)
Title(s) 17[1]
Tour final(s) 36[1]
World Open W (2013)
Medal record
Women's squash
Representing  England
World Team Championships
2014 Niagara-on-the-Lake Team
2008 Cairo Team
2010 Palmerston North Team
2012 Nîmes Team
Commonwealth Games
2010 Delhi Women's doubles
2014 Glasgow Women's singles
2014 Glasgow Women's doubles
Last updated on: April 2016.

Laura Massaro is a professional squash player from England.

She was born Laura Lengthorn on 2 November 1983 in Great Yarmouth. She attended Albany High School, Chorley,[2] which is now called Albany Science College. In July 2007, she married Danny Massaro and became Laura Lengthorn-Massaro. She subsequently dropped 'Lengthorn' from her name and is now known professionally as Laura Massaro.[3]

She won her first top-level title at the German Open in 2004 and went on to become British Open champion in 2013[4] and World Champion in 2014, so become the first Englishwoman to hold both titles at once.[5] She is also a three-time silver medallist for England in Commonwealth Games.

Massaro has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sky Sports Sportswomen of the Year awards.[6] She won the WISPA Player of the Year award in 2011.[7] She won the US Open and the Cleveland Classic in 2011, the Sharm El Sheikh Open in 2010, and the Monte Carlo Classic in 2008.

Massaro also won the British National Squash Championships in 2011, defeating Jenny Duncalf in the final 7–11, 11–9, 7–11, 11–7, 11–2. She had previously finished runner-up at the championships in 2008 (losing in the final to Alison Waters 11–6, 7–11, 8–11, 9–11).

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Massaro won a silver medal in the women's doubles (partnering Jenny Duncalf). She followed up four years later at the 2014 Commonwealth Games with two silver medals: silver in singles after finishing runner-up to Nicol David and another silver in doubles with Duncalf.[8]

Massaro won the British Open in 2013. She was the first English woman to do so in 22 years.

Laura's sponsors include 305SQUASH for clothing, Head for rackets, Asics for shoes and Technifibre for strings. She is also sponsored by UK Fast, Proto-Col and CourtCare and is provided with a sponsored car by Corkhills Volkswagen in Wigan.[9] Laura has also recently partnered with HFE (Health and Fitness Education) in order to expand on her existing knowledge and enjoyment of yoga.[10]

After starting 2014 brightly by winning the WSA World Tour title in Chicago, Massaro won the biggest title of her career to date at the 2013 World Open in Penang upon beating Nour El Sherbini in the final. Her achievement, alongside that of reigning men's world champion Nick Matthew,[11] meant that England had two reigning world squash champions for the first time.

Massaro's exceptional 2014 season continued when she was runner-up to David at the British Open in Hull in May.[12]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July, Massaro went unbeaten through the women's singles – including a semi-final against compatriot Alison Waters – before falling to David in the gold medal match. She and Duncalf then joined forces in the doubles and won through to the final, where they lost to Indians Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa in straight games.

October saw Massaro reach the quarter-finals of the US Open, where she lost to Nour El-Sherbini.[13] After a string of lacklustre performances throughout late 2014 and early 2015, she progressed to her third British Open final in succession before losing out to eventual victor Camille Serme.

Massaro started her 2015/16 season in strong fashion as she achieved victory at the US Open and Qatar Classic. Upon beating world No. 1 Raneem El Weleily (who herself ended David's 9-year unbroken streak as world No. 1 several months prior) in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open,[14] she became the third Englishwoman (and first since 2004) to ascend to the top of the world rankings.[15]

World Open

Finals: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-up)

Outcome Year Location Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 2012 Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands Malaysia Nicol David 11–6, 11–8, 11–6
Winner 2013 Penang, Malaysia Egypt Nour El Sherbini 11–7, 6–11, 11–9, 5–11, 11–9
Runner-up 2015 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Egypt Nour El Sherbini 6–11, 4–11, 11–3, 11–5, 11–8

Major World Series final appearances

British Open: 3 finals (1 title, 2 runner-up)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 2013 Malaysia Nicol David 11-4, 3-11, 12-10, 11-8
Runner-up 2014 Malaysia Nicol David 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8
Runner-up 2015 France Camille Serme 11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8

Hong Kong Open: 1 final (1 runner-up)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 2015 Malaysia Nicol David 15-13, 11-9, 11-3

Qatar Classic: 1 final (1 title)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 2015 Egypt Nour El Sherbini 11-8, 12-14, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9

U.S. Open: 3 finals (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 2011 Australia Kasey Brown 5-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-5
Runner-up 2013 Malaysia Nicol David 13-11, 11-13, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5
Winner 2015 Egypt Nour El Tayeb 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7

Kuala Lumpur Open: 1 final (1 title)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 2013 England Alison Waters 11-9, 11-7, 11-6

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laura Massaro.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Raneem El Weleily		 World No. 1
January 2016 – April 2016 		Succeeded by
Nour El Sherbini
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Shelley Kitchen		 WISPA Most Improved Player of the Year
2008 		Succeeded by
Camille Serme
Preceded by
Nicol David
Nicol David		 WSA Player of the Year
2011
2013 		Succeeded by
Nicol David
Raneem El Weleily
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, May 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.