Bailey Battles To KL Comeback Win

In her first Tour outing since undergoing surgery on her right knee in April, Tania Bailey battled for 55 minutes to overcome England team-mate Alison Waters in today's opening round of the CIMB Malaysian Open to claim her place in the quarter-finals of the $53,500 WISPA World Tour Gold squash event in Kuala Lumpur.

"To be honest, I surprised myself how well I played," said the fourth seed after her 12-14, 11-8, 6-11, 11-4, 11-2 victory. "I got back on court four weeks ago after the operation and then it went bad for a while so I have only had a week of training.

"Because I wanted to only concentrate on myself, I didn't even look at the draw - so I only knew who I was playing a couple of days ago when one of the girls let it slip by mistake!

"I was so looking forward to playing a match again, and I amazed myself - it just showed how much the work I have done over the years has helped. I've still got a lot of work to do and I am not sure how I will feel in the morning."

Bailey acknowledged that WISPA's Pro-Scoring - the new point-a-rally scoring system being used for the first time in the Malaysian Open - probably helped her cause:

"I have point-a-rally to thank, as well, as I am not sure how I would have coped physically if the match had been even longer," explained the 28-year-old world No5 from Lincolnshire. "In normal circumstances, I may have been a little more defensive, but after the layoff I had to be more attacking."

Bailey will now face sixth seed Shelley Kitchen after the New Zealander beat Australian Kasey Brown 11-7, 14-12, 8-11, 11-6.

"I have been practicing pro-scoring for six weeks now so I've got comfortable with it," said Kitchen, from Auckland. "I might think a little differently playing somebody lower-ranked, but it is always a close tough match with Kasey so I just concentrated on playing my game."

Local star Nicol David made a confident start in her bid to win the title for a fourth successive time. The top seed defeated Asian rival Rebecca Chiu, from Hong Kong, 11-5, 11-5, 13-11 and will now face Egypt's seventh seed Omneya Abdel Kawy for a place in the last four.

Australian Stewart Boswell was also making an injury comeback in KL in the men's 5-star PSA Tour event. Like Bailey, the fourth seed from Canberra last played at the KL Open in March - before seeking treatment for a back injury back in his homeland.

Boswell comfortably overcame English qualifier Tom Richards 11-4, 11-5, 11-6 and goes on to face fifth seed Omar Mosaad after the Egyptian fought back from 2/1 down to beat New Zealander Kashif Shuja 11-4, 8-11, 12-14, 11-3, 11-5.

Two all-Malaysian encounters concluded with the favoured players prevailing: Second seed Ong Beng Hee, the event's first home champion in 2000, defeated KL-based qualifier Muhd Asyraf Azan 11-3, 11-6, 11-0, while third seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar, the defending champion, beat Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan 11-2, 11-6, 11-6.

But Indian qualifier Saurav Ghosal produced the day's biggest upset by removing eighth seed Eric Galvez. Fresh from his home-town triumph in the Chennai Open earlier this month, Ghosal - who gained a first class honours degree in Economics from Leeds University in the UK this summer - despatched the Mexican 11-6, 11-8, 11-5.

Ghosal will now meet Wael El Hindi, the top seed from Egypt who is competing in the championship for the first time since finishing as runner-up for the second year in a row in 2005.

Women's 1st round:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt Rebecca Chiu (HKG) 11-5, 11-5, 13-11 (20m)
[7] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [Q] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) 11-6, 10-12, 13-11, 11-5 (20m)
[3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [Q] Louise Crome (NZL) 11-3, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4 (33m)
[8] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG) bt [Q] Madeline Perry (IRL) 11-4, 11-7, 13-11 (35m)
[6] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) bt Kasey Brown (AUS) 11-7, 14-12, 8-11, 11-6 (45m)
[4] Tania Bailey (ENG) bt Alison Waters (ENG) 12-14, 11-8, 6-11, 11-4, 11-2 (55m)
[5] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt Delia Arnold (MAS) 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 (20m)
[2] Natalie Grinham (NED) bt [Q] Lauren Briggs (ENG) 11-2, 11-5, 11-2 (22m)

Men's 1st round:
[1] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt Chris Ryder (ENG) 11-6, 11-4, 11-9 (42m)
[Q] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [8] Eric Galvez (MEX) 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 (27m)
[3] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-2, 11-6, 11-6 (28m)
[6] Mansoor Zaman (PAK) bt [Q] Wade Johnstone (AUS) 10-12, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 11-4 (52m)
[5] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Kashif Shuja (NZL) 11-4, 8-11, 12-14, 11-3, 11-5 (65m)
[4] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [Q] Tom Richards (ENG) 11-4, 11-5, 11-6 (38m)
[7] Farhan Mehboob (PAK) bt Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6 (44m)
[2] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt [Q] Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) 11-3, 11-6, 11-0 (23m)