[Men's Draw] [Women's Draw]

Azlan & Bailey Upset Second Seeds In KL

Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) comes back to take out second seed Lee Beachill (ENG). (photo ©2007 Alex Wan)

Malaysia's Mohd Azlan Iskandar and England's Tania Bailey secured surprise places in the finals of the CIMB Malaysian Open Squash Championships after notable upsets in today's (Friday) semi-finals in Kuala Lumpur. Natalie Grinham and Lee Beachill, second seed of their repsective events, today limped out of the tournament in similar fashion.

Iskandar, the 2004 champion who is the 4-star PSA Tour event's fifth seed, made his breakthrough in the quarter-finals when he despatched England's No3 seed Adrian Grant - the defending champion - in straight games.

The Sarawak-born 25-year-old then pulled off one of his best wins in recent times when he beat second seed Lee Beachill. In a dramatic 64-minute clash which delighted the KL crowd, Iskandar fought back from two games down to beat his second English opponent in 24 hours 6-11, 2-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-9, 11-2 - thereby registering his first ever victory over the former world No1.

Beachill controlled play for the first two games until Isklandar forced a tempo change in the third when Beachill was up 7-4. Azlan clawed his way back in to win the fourth. In the decider, when the Malaysian was up 6-2 Beachill pulled his Achilles tendon and was denied an injury break by the referee. Iskandar took the next few points easily to score his first win over Beachill.

Lee Beachill pleads his case for an injury time out to the referees. (photo ©2007 Alex Wan)

He later said "I feel terrible winning the match this way. I worked so hard to come back for 2 games and then it's all over in 3 minutes in the fifth."

In his 15th Tour final, Iskandar will meet Stewart Boswell, the top-seeded Australian who has reached his 29th Tour final in KL without dropping a game.

The 28-year-old from Canberra defeated fellow Australia Cameron Pilley 11-9, 11-2, 11-7. Pilley, the sixth seed, produced a stunning quarter-final performance to upset local hero Ong Beng Hee - the fourth seed and two-times former champion - in four games.

In the women's WISPA World Tour Gold championship, England's fourth seed Tania Bailey stunned observers when she beat Australia's No2 seed Natalie Grinham in straight games. Natalie, the younger of the Grinham sisters, having overstretched her Achilles tendon the night before against Jenny Duncalf sportingly took to the court to try. She went down tamely though to Tania, who will make her second Malaysian Open final.

Since winning a historic three Commonwealth Games gold medals in her home country last year, Grinham has become one of the most in-form players on the WISPA Tour - reaching nine Tour finals and defeating nemesis Nicol David in April's Seoul Open final to win her 11th crown.

Today belonged to Bailey - who scored one of the biggest scalps of her recent career by crushing Natalie Grinham 9-2, 9-4, 9-0 in just 28 minutes.

Playing to an enthusiastic home crowd, Nicol David seemed a little tense as Rachael Grinham raced to a quick one game lead.. (photo ©2007 Alex Wan)

The other semi-final nearly produced an even bigger upset when Rachael Grinham - the senior of the Toowoomba twosome - extended Malaysian star Nicol David to five games. David, the world number one going for a hat-trick of successive Malaysian Open titles, failed to score a singe point in the opening game.

Playing to an enthusiastic home crowd, David seemed a little tense as Rachael raced to a quick one game lead. David got her rhythm in the next game and was in control again. It was close all the way and the pair delighted the crowd with some exceptional retrieving that drew "oohs" and "aahs".

The country's most successful international sportswoman lifted her game to see off the Aussie challenge - beating third seed Grinham 0-9, 9-2, 9-5, 4-9, 9-4 in 72 minutes.

Nicol told the press later on the final tomorrow "Tania is going to go all out tomorrow. I will have to raise my game a notch to win."

 

RESULTS: CIMB Malaysian Open Squash Championships, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Men's Semi-finals:
[1] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [6] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-9, 11-2, 11-7 (36m)
[5] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [2] Lee Beachill (ENG) 6-11, 2-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-9, 11-2 (64m)

Women's Semi-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 0-9, 9-2, 9-5, 4-9, 9-4 (72m)
[4] Tania Bailey (ENG) bt [2] Natalie Grinham (AUS) 9-2, 9-4, 9-0 (28m)

 

 

Tania Bailey (ENG) upsets second seed Natalie Grinham (AUS). (photos ©2007 Alex Wan)

Stewart Boswell wins his final spot by beating fellow countryman Cameron Pilley in 3. (photos ©2007 Alex Wan)

Off to a slow start local star Nicol David comes back to beat Rachael Grinham in five. (photos ©2007 Alex Wan)

Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) gets his first tour win over Lee Beachill (ENG) to reach the Malaysian final. (photos ©2007 Alex Wan)