PETALING JAYA: Ivan Yuen is beginning to show his true quality after clinching another superb win to reach the semi-finals of the US$25,000 (RM102,000) HKFC International squash championships.
A day after knocking out top seed and defending champion Max Lee of Hong Kong, Ivan continued his fine progress by ousting Australia’s Rex Hedrick 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11, 11-4 in the quarter-finals in Hong Kong on Thursday.
The world No. 59 certainly had to do it the hard way, holding off a late charge by world No. 57 Hedrick to seal his place in the last four after a gruelling 89-minute battle.
This is a breakthrough for the 2009 world junior runner-up, who had never gone past the quarter-finals of a PSA 25 event.
The 25-year-old Ivan will face New Zealand’s fifth-seeded Paul Coll, who packed off fourth seed Adrian Waller of England, for a place in the final.
There was more joy for Malaysia when national No. 1 Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan also breezed into the semi-finals.
World No. 33 Nafiizwan was just too good for Egyptian qualifier Mazen Gamal, winning 11-7, 11-0, 11-5 in just 28 minutes.
In the women’s event, national No. 2 Delia Arnold failed to progress after falling 6-11, 7-11, 13-11, 10-12 to Australia’s Donna Urquhart.
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