Qualifying matches were over yesterday and Kamran and Rachael qualified to enter the main draw. It was pretty disappointing with the guys as Jo Wen and Kam Hing had their chances to qualify but they could not pull it off. The women's side was an easier affair with the players hardly raising a sweat to get through.
1st Round 8/7/09
We had 6 Malaysians in the main draw but only 4 managed to get through to the quarterfinals. First on court were Elvinn and Ivan. Elvinn played well to upset a higher ranked player 3-1 with 3 games going into tie breaks. Ivan on the other hand lost to the top seed in straight games. I van looked a little jaded and out of sorts but hopefully he will be able to get back to his normal self before the world juniors.
Next on were Wan and Jam. On paper, Wan had a fairly straight forward match but his opponent was determined to make it difficult and it went to 5 games. Wan finally prevailed 13-11 in the 5th. Looked a little too edgy and rushing his shots too much. Hopefully he can settle down and get his rhythm today. Jam played an excellent match to beat the 3rd seed in 5 also. It is good to finally see him get a deserved win for all the hardwork he has put in all these years.
Finally, it was Kamran and Asyraf on court. Kamran started well and took only 5 mins or so to win the 1st game 11-5. Then, the fightback came and slowly the rallies got longer and longer. Kamran was eventually subdued after 45 mins of squash. Asyraf took on court all fired up. The thing with Asyraf is that you never know what he is going to do. Today he played totally unorthodox squash and got into the head of his opponent. He was flicking and going for his shot and they all went in. He was also pretty focused and kept his cool and he won in 5 as well.
I didn't watch the girls matches but Delia, Wee Wern, Sharon, Siti and Yoke Wah are through to the quarterfinals.
Quarterfinals 9/7/09
Today we started with 4 Malaysian men in the quarters but at the end of the day we ended up with none. Elvinn took on the top seed and started off brightly taking the 1st game very comfortably. But then the top seed, Jan Koukal started getting in to rhythm and the match became longer and tougher. With a better overall game, Jan won the match 3-1 but this has been Elvinn's best match for a long time.
At the same time, Wan was on court with Arshad Burki. Having struggled yesterday, we were hoping Wan would be able to produce a better performance today. But Burki had other ideas and coupled with Wan's bad form, Burki won 3-0.
Jam was next against Waqar. Having made a great upset yesterday, Jam looked a little jaded. This could be due to the 5 games he had to play yesterday. 1st game was very poor but improved in the 2nd where he was leading 7-2 but could not finish it. The 3rd was almost lost early as Waqar had a 10-6 lead but due to his impatience, he made a string of errors and allowed Jam in. In the tie break, it was point for point till 14-14. Then Waqar hit a fluke off a great drop shot by Jam to go matchball up and he duly finished it off.
Asyraf was on court the same time as Jam and he gave a good fight all the way, going to tie breaks in all the 3 games. He was a little unlucky as a bit of poor refereeing was his undoing.
At the end of the day, we had no men left but have 3 women in the semis, Delia, Wee Wern and Sharon. Delia and Wee Wern had a relatively easy match which took them about 25 mins to finish. Sharon had a tough 45 min match against Siti and eventually winning 3-1.
I hate to say this but we have to face the truth. The refereeing over the 2 days have been quite bad and that is putting it nicely. Hopefully we can get better ones for the next 2 days.
Semifinals 10/7/09
For the 1st time I got to watch the ladies playing their matches and also today, the men finished their matches way before the ladies. Also today, they employed the 3 referee system which helped the continuity of the match but doesn't mean the refereeing improved.
First on court was Jan Koukal and Arshad Burki. This was a match of contrast, a cool and conservative Jan against an aggressive and loud Burki. It was a close match with either Burki's winners or errors deciding the points. At the end of it, Jan's cool head and consistency won it for him 3-1 in 46 mins.
Also on court the same time was Delia and Wee Wern. The match started very cautiously with the players waiting it out for each others mistakes. It was point for point till 9-9 and Wee Wern closed it thanks to 2 errors from Delia. The 2nd was no different to the 1st till 6-6 when Delia managed to pull ahead 9-6. Again a couple of errors let Wee Wern in to push it into a tie breaker which she won thanks to a Delia mistake again. So far, the match was a long drawn out affair with both players playing it so safe. Delia upped the tempo a little in the 3rd and 4th to even out the match as Wee wern looked a little tired. But in the 5th, Wee Wern started a little quicker and a little more attacking. Taking advantage of slight angles, she managed to hit a couple of short drives into the nick and a couple of flicks to wrong foot Delia to lead 8-2 before a short fight from Delia. Wee Wern eventually won 3-2 11-5 in the 5th in a reported 80 min match but I reckon it was more like 90 over mins.
The Yasir Butt and Waqar Mehboob was running at the same time as Delia and Wee Wern playing so I did not catch it too much except bits and pieces which I saw Yasir dominating the T and Waqar not his usual running self. Yasir did win it comfortably 3-0.
The last match was between Sharon and Joshna Chinappa and this was a contrast to the Delia/Wee Wern match. Sharon and Joshna both were attacking and wrong footing each other from the start of the match knowing that each of them are not the best retrievers. And the score was 3-2 in Joshna's favour in 46 mins, about half the time of the other semis. That is the contrast.
Finals 10/7/09
The finals turned out to be an exciting affair for both the women and men events as it both went to the limit. The women were on first and Joshna had an advantage of beating Wee Wern twice before. But today Wee Wern came out with guns blazing and went 2-0 up by attacking Joshna in total opposite of her match with Delia yesterday. Slowly Joshna settled down and got into a rhythm and managed to even it to 2-2. The 5th was almost a done deal as Joshna went 10-7 matchball up but a couple of errors and a winner from Wee Wern took it to the tie break. It was so close and both players had chances to win it but Joshna finally prevailed 16-14 thanks to a Wee Wern error. So close yet so far for Wee Wern and congrats to Joshna for hanging in there.
The men were on next and like the women, the favourite was under pressure. Jan and Yasir plays a similar game and in the beginning Yasir was dominating and duly won the 1st game. Jan staged a come back and squeezed the 2nd in a tie break but Yasir showed he was no pushover as he won the 3rd and was leading the 4th 7-2. Jan was ready to throw the towel from his body language but funnily Yasir his a couple of drops from the back of the court into the tin and Jan somehow found his second wind and pushed to win it 11-9. That broke Yasir's spirit and Jan coolly closed the match 11-5 in the 5th.
Congrats to the winners and better luck to those who didn't win in the next tournament which starts on Monday.
You can get the detailed results and up dated draws here. Happy squashing.
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