Double blow for Malaysia at Victorian Open

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia suffered a double blow when Ivan Yuen and Delia Arnold crashed out in the semi-finals of the Victorian Open squash championships in Melbourne.

National No. 4 Ivan, bidding to reach his second final of the year after the NSC Series No. 1 in March, came close before losing in five sets – 4-11, 7-11, 11-9, 16-14, 8-11 to Aussie Steve Finitsis yesterday.

World No. 72 Ivan allowed Finitsis to take the early advantage by winning the first two sets.

Ivan, however, came back strongly to take the third 11-9 before unleashing a few brilliant nicks to win the fourth 16-14 to force the decider.

Former Asian Junior champion Ivan failed to hold on to a 7-5 lead in the fifth set and this allowed Finitsis to step up a notch and seal a place in the final.

It’s Ivan’s second straight defeat by the world No. 73 Finitsis, having lost to the towering Aussie in the semi-finals of last week’s Buler Challenge Cup at Hong Kong.

Finitsis will face top seed Campbell Grayson of New Zealand, who crushed fourth seed Matthew Karwalski of Australia, for the title.

Earlier, women’s national No. 3 Delia also went down in five sets to Kiwi youngster Megan Craig.

Second seed Delia just could not build on her 2-1 advantage to lose 11-4, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11 in 63 minutes.

Craig will take on veteran Aussie and former world champion Rachael Grinham in the final.