Home Heroines Rachel & Aifa Advance at Malaysian Open

It was a day of upsets at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur where the home crowd had the biggest cheer as both Aifa Azman and Rachel Arnold gatecrashed the women's quarter-finals of the PSA World Tour Bronze event

Teen sensation Aifa showed she has the mental strength to go far after digging deep to come-from-behind against third seed Yathreb Adel of Egypt for an 11-3, 9-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7 win at the National Squash Centre, Bukit Jalil.

The national No 4 had started off firing on all cylinders and looked to be running away with the win after taking the first game 11-3.

World No 31 Yathreb however showed her experience to fight back before moving into a 2/1 lead.

And when the going got tough, Aifa certainly stood up to be accounted for after showing great resilience for the win in 47 minutes.

It is a superb outcome for the world No 69 who claims her second scalp of the tournament and checks into the quarter-final of a Professional Squash Association Bronze event for the first time.

The Kedahan will certainly fancy her chances when she lines up against world No 35 Hana Ramadan of Egypt in the last eight.

"I was cruising in the first game but she changed her game plan and suddenly I found myself 2/1 down," said Aifa.

"I knew I had to change my game too because she was taking everything in the middle. I knew I needed to keep the ball at the front and back of the court and I did just that in the fourth and fifth games.

"I'm definitely very happy with my performance as I've already beaten two higher ranked players and got into the quarter-finals.

"Hana will be a tough opponent in the last eight but I'm definitely looking forward to it."

Not to be outdone, national No 2 Rachel was also in inspired form as she delivered a downed seventh seed and world No 23 Donna Lobban of Australia 11-9, 12-10, 11-4.

It was the perfect boost for the world No 43 who certainly enjoys competing in the Malaysian Open, having also won the title in 2019.

Rachel now goes on to face top seed and world No 8 Salma Hany of Egypt in the last eight.

There were several other upsets with Egypt's world No 35 Hana Ramadan beating Wales' world No 18 and sixth seed Emily Whitlock 11-7, 11-0, 11-7.

Also gatecrashing the last eight was Hong Kong's Ho Tze Lok.

The world No 44 came from a game down to beat world No 28 and eighth seed Farida Mohamed of Egypt 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9 and will meet No 4 seed Hollie Naughton of Canada in the quarter-finals.

In the men's event, national No 1 Ng Eain Yow overcame teammate and national No 2 Ivan Yuen to check into the quarter-finals.

The world No 18, who received a first round bye, did not lose his focus despite dropping a game as he rounded it off for an 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-1 win.

"I started off a little nervous and I was struggling with confidence after a first round exit in my last tournament," admitted Eain Yow.

"But I told myself to stay confident and trust my game plan and it paid off.

"It's definitely a boost to get past my first match because this was probably the biggest challenge," added Eain Yow who takes on Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller in the last eight.

There was also a superb win for Hong Kong's Yip Tsz Fung as he took out world No 17 and fourth seed Youssef Soliman of Egypt 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-9.

"It was a very tight game and it could have been anybody's game and the scores reflected that," said the former world No 21.

"But I'm very glad that I came through for the win.

"It's also nice to be back in Malaysia because I've been coming here since I was a junior and I'm really familiar with this place and it's nice to be back on the grounds and seeing familiar people."