Australians Rachael Grinham and David Palmer went down in the finals of the World Open Squash Championship in Hong Kong.

Queensland top seed Grinham, contesting her first World Open final, started strongly and took the first game 10-8 but Malaysian third seed and world No.3 Nicol David then took command to grab the next three games, and the match, 9-2 9-6 9-6.

Third seed Palmer, aiming for his second world title following his 2002 triumph, fell 11-6 11-7 11-8 to Egyptian fifth seed Amr Shabana in the men's final.

Shabana grabbed his second world title after his 2003 success and avenged his British Open final defeat to the New South Wales 29-year-old. He has beaten world No.4 Palmer in all three meetings this year.

David, who is guaranteed the world No.1 spot for the first time in the January rankings, also celebrated her first world title.

It is the second consecutive year that a Grinham sister has lost the World Open final after younger sibling Natalie Grinham went down to Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands in 2004. World No.2 Rachael Grinham failed to become the seventh Australian woman to win the World Open since its inception in 1976.

This was also Grinham's fifth straight loss to David this year.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP