Azlan & Bailey Upset Second Seeds In KL

Malaysia's Mohd Azlan Iskandar and England's Tania Bailey secured surprise places in the finals of the CIMB Malaysian Open after notable upsets in today's semi-finals in Kuala Lumpur.

Iskandar, the 2004 champion who is the 4-star PSA Tour event's fifth seed, made his breakthrough in the quarter-finals when he despatched England's No3 seed Adrian Grant - the defending champion - in straight games.

The Sarawak-born 25-year-old then pulled off one of his best wins in recent times when he beat second seed Lee Beachill. In a dramatic 64-minute clash which delighted the KL crowd, Iskandar fought back from two games down to beat his second English opponent in 24 hours 6-11, 2-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-9, 11-2 - thereby registering his first ever victory over the former world No1.

In his 15th Tour final, Iskandar will meet Stewart Boswell, the top-seeded Australian who has reached his 29th Tour final in KL without dropping a game.

The 28-year-old from Canberra defeated fellow Australia Cameron Pilley 11-9, 11-2, 11-7. Pilley, the sixth seed, produced a stunning quarter-final performance to upset local hero Ong Beng Hee - the fourth seed and two-times former champion - in four games.

In the women's WISPA World Tour Gold championship, England's fourth seed Tania Bailey stunned observers when she beat Australia's No2 seed Natalie Grinham in straight games.

Since winning a historic three Commonwealth Games gold medals in her home country last year, Grinham has become one of the most in-form players on the WISPA Tour - reaching nine Tour finals and defeating nemesis Nicol David in April's Seoul Open final to win her 11th crown.

But today belonged to Bailey - who scored one of the biggest scalps of her recent career by crushing the younger Grinham sister 9-2, 9-4, 9-0 in just 28 minutes.

The other semi-final nearly produced an even bigger upset when Rachael Grinham - the senior of the Toowoomba twosome - extended Malaysian star Nicol David to five games. David, the world number one going for a hat-trick of successive Malaysian Open titles, failed to score a singe point in the opening game.

But the country's most successful international sportswoman lifted her game to see off the Aussie challenge - beating third seed Grinham 0-9, 9-2, 9-5, 4-9, 9-4 in 72 minutes.

Men's semi-finals:
[1] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [6] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-9, 11-2, 11-7 (36m)
[5] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [2] Lee Beachill (ENG) 6-11, 2-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-9, 11-2 (64m)

Women's semi-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 0-9, 9-2, 9-5, 4-9, 9-4 (72m)
[4] Tania Bailey (ENG) bt [2] Natalie Grinham (AUS) 9-2, 9-4, 9-0 (28m)