Azan Survives Historic Tour Marathon To Make Indian Challenger Draw
14 Apr 2010
Muhd Asyraf Azan survived the third-longest PSA World Tour match this millennium when he beat fellow Malaysian Ivan Yuen in 143 minutes to earn a place in the main draw of the $50,000 Indian Challenger No7 at The Calcutta Racket Club in Kolkata.
The 21-year-old world No68 from Kuala Lumpur battled through two tie-break games in the qualifying final to beat his fellow countryman 11-9, 8-11, 12-10, 5-11, 12-10.
Azan's reward is a first round clash with his home nation's most famous male squash player Ong Beng Hee, the fifth seed.
Remarkably, all four final qualifying matches lasted more than an hour - with Englishman Chris Simpson's five-game win over Hong Kong's Dick Lau the shortest of these, at 65 minutes!
Simpson is drawn to face top seed and compatriot Adrian Grant, the world No13 from London who is looking to repeat the success he achieved last time at the Calcutta Racket Club where he won the Indian Challenger No2 just over a year ago.
Updated 1st round draw:
[1] Adrian Grant (ENG) v [Q] Chris Simpson (ENG)
[8] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Aaron Frankcomb (AUS)
[3] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) v Renan Lavigne (FRA)
[5] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v [Q] Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS)
[7] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [Q] Max Lee (HKG)
[4] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) v Siddharth Suchde (IND)
[6] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) v Julian Illingworth (USA)
[2] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [Q] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS)
Qualifying finals:
Chris Simpson (ENG) bt Dick Lau (HKG) 11-3, 11-13, 4-11, 11-0, 11-4 (65m)
Max Lee (HKG) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4 (108m)
Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) bt Ivan Yuen (MAS) 11-9, 8-11, 12-10, 5-11, 12-10 (143m)
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8 (77m)