Azman & Ghosal Defy Seedings To Claim Malaysian Open Crowns

It was a sensational finish for Aifa Azman as the teenage squash starlet defied the odds to capture the women's Malaysian Open title.

In what was an extraordinary performance, the 19-year-old Malaysian wildcard rose superbly to the challenge as she stunned world No 8 and top seed Salma Hany of Egypt 12-10, 11-8, 11-4 in the final of the PSA World Tour Bronze event at the National Squash Centre, Bukit Jalil.

The world No 69 demonstrated a champion's resolve as she came roaring back from 4-9 down to take the first game 12-10.

That gave her a huge confidence boost and she pulled away into a 2/0 lead before sealing the win after 30 minutes with a shout of joy.

The win is Aifa's 11th PSA World Tour title but with the Malaysian Open being a PSA World Tour Bronze event, it is also her biggest career win to date.

Additionally, she is the first Malaysian since eight-time world champion Nicol David's triumph at the Ciudad de Floridablanca in Colombia in 2017, to bag a World Tour level crown.

In doing so, she is only the third Malaysian after Nicol and Low Wee Wern to taste success on the World Tour level.

What made the achievement even more impressive was the fact that Aifa entered the competition as a wildcard and had already beaten a string of higher ranked players - all of whom she was meeting for the first time - prior to the final.

"In the first game I was 4-9 down and it was really tough as I had to come back and to keep my focus as well," said Aifa.

"But I stuck to my game plan which worked and I did the same in the second and third game too.

"I think I had to change my shots a little because I felt that she was going behind me a lot so I wanted to prevent her from doing that.

"And this win really feels amazing especially since I was only a wildcard to start.

"But I really trained hard for this tournament and I believe this is really just the first step for me as I want to achieve more in my squash career.

"Hopefully this win will push me into the top 50 rankings once again and I definitely hope to keep trying to push on higher," added Aifa.

In the men's final, India's second seed Saurav Ghosal delivered a well-polished performance to down Colombian favourite Miguel Rodriguez, ranked 12 in the world, for the title.

In a battle two of the oldest competitors in the competition, it was world No 15 Saurav who came away with the 11-7, 11-8, 13-11 win in 55 minutes.

"It was a really hard match today and that was expected considering that it's Miguel that I'm up against and he's been in top form this week," said Saurav.

"I saw what he did against Yow and he played a clinical game so I had to be just as good to compete against him.

"I had a plan in place and I was also responding to everything that he was throwing at me.

"It's definitely good to get the win today and special has to go to my coach Malcolm Willstrop who passed away this year.

"A lot of the way I play today is because of the work he has done with me and a lot of credit has to go to him.

"David (Palmer) has also really helped me a lot in the last two to three years. A lot of my game, both tactically and skills is thanks to him and he's stuck with me even when I wasn't producing the results I wanted.

"And this is definitely a good kind of reward to get after putting in the work," added Saurav.