PETALING JAYA: It was a good day for the seeded players led by Ivan Yuen (pic) as all cleared their opening round matches in the SRAM PSA 1 at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil.
Top seed Ivan did just enough to beat Mohd Hafiz Zhafri Abdul Harif 11-3,11-7,11-5 in the first round yesterday.
Three others – second seed Mohd Syafiq Mohd Kamal, Addeen Idrakie (third), and Darren Rahul Pragasam (fourth) also won their opening matches without dropping a set.
In the women’s singles, Low Wee Wern got off to a great start after taking only 16 minutes to dispose of Chen Yu Jie 11-2,11-5,11-5.
She will take on Aika Azman for a place in the semi-finals.
Aika’s two other siblings - Aifa and Aira - had contrasting fortunes.
Aifa also cleared the opening round after beating N. Shasmithaa 11-2,11-3,11-3 in just 17 minutes but her younger sister battled for 32 minutes before going down fighting to Noor Ainaa Amani Ampandi, who triumphed 11-5,9-11,11-9,13-11. Aifa will take on Ainaa next.
Second seed Rachel Arnold also powered her way into the second round with an 11-4,11-7,11-3 win over K. Sehveetrra to set up a meeting with Chan Yiwen.
The US$10,000 (RM41,360) professional tournament is the first event for the Malaysian players since March last year, as their calendar was disrupted because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS
First round: Ivan Yuen bt Mohd Hafiz Zhafri Abdul Harif 11-3,11-7,11-5; Ong Sai Hung bt Darryl Zi Kang Gan 11-3,11-8,11-2; Addeen Idrakie bt Duncan Lee 11-5,11-7,11-0; Darren Rahul Pragasam bt Hi Jia Rong 11-7,11-3,11-5; Elvinn Keo bt Ameeshenraj Chandran 11-9,11-6,8-11,8-11,11-9; Adam Agan Aziz bt Wee Ming Hock 13-11,11-5,12-10; Mohd Syafiq Mohd Kamal bt Andrik Lim 11-9,11-3,11-4.
Women: Low Wee Wern bt Chen Yu Jie 11-2,11-5,11-5; Aika Azman bt Nur Maisara Mohd Azlan 12-10,11-7,11-1; Yee Xin Ying bt U. Thanusaa 8-11,11-6,11-9,11-13,11-9; Ooi Kah Yan bt J. Yasshmita 11-4,11-6,11-4; Aifa Azman bt N. Shasmithaa 11-2,11-3,11-3; Noor Ainaa Amani Ampandi bt Aira Azman 11-5,9-11,11-9,13-11; Chan Yiwen bt Ooi Zhi Ling 11-6,11-7,11-5; Rachel Arnold bt K. Sehveetrraa 11-4,11-7,11-3.
