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KUALA LUMPUR – Current national squash sensation Aifa Azman continued her fiery performance to cruise into the 2021 Malaysia Open final at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil here.
World number 69 Aifa pulled off another stunner to oust fifth seed and world number 19 Danielle Letourneau 11-4, 11-7, 5-11, 11-3 in the semi-finals yesterday ensure one home representative in the finals.
The wildcard entrant had a blazing start as she raced into a 2-0 lead before Letourneau pegged her back by taking the game, but Aifa was not shaken. She refocused and came back firing in the fourth to seal the win after 32 minutes.
The Kedahan will take on world number eight Salma Hany of Egypt for the title, as top seed Salma powered through with an 11-1, 11-8, 11-5 win over fourth seed Hollie Naughton of Canada.
The 19-year-old in earlier games scored upset wins against three Egyptians - world number 47 Mayar Hany, world number 31 Yathreb Adel and world number 35 Hana Ramadhan to check into the semi-finals.
Aifa is now ready to take on other higher-ranked players.
“I wasn’t expecting to play in the final, but after the draw came out, I thought there were plenty of chances for me to win, so after I won the first round, I focused on the next game and I kept doing that until I reached the final.
“Beating someone ranked higher motivates me to keep on training hard and to be in the top 20 in a few years or maybe next year,” she told to reporters after the match.
Meanwhile, men’s category reigning champion Ng Eain Yow failed to retain the title after being eliminated by top seed Miguel Rodriguez of Colombia 11-9, 11-9, 11-6.
Rodriguez will be challenged by second seed Saurav Ghosal of India, who edged France’s Victor Crouin 12-10, 11-9, 11-9. – Bernama, November 27, 2021
