Blake & Butt Battle Into Malaysian Open Draws

Pakistan's Yasir Butt and Ireland's Aisling Blake pulled off notable upsets in today's qualifying finals of the CIMB Malaysian Open to earn places in the main draws of Malaysia's leading international squash championship in capital Kuala Lumpur.

Blake, the world No31, reached eight places above her in the world rankings to defeat England's Sarah Kippax 11-5, 11-9, 11-7 in 41 minutes in the women's $53,500 WISPA World Tour Gold event.

The Irish number two from Sligo has been drawn to meet eighth seed Madeline Perry - the Irish number one and her opponent in six Irish national championship finals since 2002!

France's Camille Serme also claimed a surprise place in the first round. The 20-year-old from Creteil beat higher-seeded Dane Line Hansen 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 and will now line up against England's fifth seed Jenny Duncalf.

Yasir Butt became the lowest-ranked player to make the main draw of the $52,500 PSA Tour event when he beat Egypt's Tarek Momen, ranked 27 in the world, 11-4, 12-10, 11-5 in 37 minutes.

The world No61 from Lahore was then handed the toughest opponent in the first round when he was drawn to face top seed Amr Shabana, the three times world champion from Egypt. The world No4 from Cairo, who celebrated his 30th birthday a week ago, is competing in his first PSA Tour event since April.

There was Pakistan disappointment elsewhere in the qualifying finals when Mansoor Zaman, a former world No11, went down 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 in 25 minutes to promising German Simon Rosner.

The 21-year-old from Paderborn will now face England's No2 seed Nick Matthew, the world No5 from Sheffield who arrived in Kuala Lumpur fresh from his gold medal triumph in last week's World Games in Chinese Taipei.

Men's qualifying finals:
Yasir Butt (PAK) bt Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-4, 12-10, 11-5 (37m)
Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 (55m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt Mansoor Zaman (PAK) 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 (25m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Julien Balbo (FRA) 7-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7 (58m)

Women's qualifying finals:
Annie Au (HKG) bt Lauren Siddall (ENG) 12-10, 11-7, 11-8 (32m)
Aisling Blake (IRL) bt Sarah Kippax (ENG) 11-5, 11-9, 11-7 (41m)
Camille Serme (FRA) bt Line Hansen (DEN) 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 (31m)
Samantha Teran (MEX) bt Tenille Swartz (RSA) 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7 (51m)