Eain Yow Reflects on ‘Biggest Win’ of Career in Germany

Malaysian No.1 Eain Yow Ng produced some of the best squash of his career earlier this month to claim his first World Tour title at the German Open and the 26-year-old says that the pain of losing two previous finals this season spurred him on in Hamburg.

Yow was the No.4 seed in the event and after impressively downing top seed Joel Makin in four games, defeated Swiss No.2 Dimitri Steinmann in straight games to lift the trophy.

The win has taken Yow up to his highest ranking of World No.16 and we caught up with him to discuss his week in Hamburg, his season overall and top 10 ambitions:

“It’s the biggest win of my career so it’s taken some time to settle in and for me to process it. I thought I played some really good squash and overall I’m just so happy with how I played,” Yow reflects,

“Overall, my season hasn’t been too bad. I think the start of this year has been a little rough. I lost first round in Chicago and lost to Leonel [Cardenas] in Cleveland, so they weren’t my best results ,but I think it’s also testament to the how strong the tour is at the minute.

“It’s funny that in squash you can go from feeling like you’re playing the worst squash of your career to then winning your first World Tour title just two weeks after.”

The Malaysian is in great physical shape, moves smoothly around the court and is more than capable of finishing a ball when the opportunity presents itself. All these attributes make him a danger for anyone on the tour, but Yow admits it isn’t always easy to put it all together every match.

“I haven’t changed much in my game to be honest. I know I’ve been doing the right things, so it’s just reconfirming my good attributes and then putting a plan together with my team to best utilise those. Sometimes I overthink things and then my game can get away from m,e but I know what I’m good at and I know where my strengths lie, so as long as I stay true to those then I know I’m on the right path.”

Yow’s first taste of a World Tour event final came in December 2023 at the Hong Kong Football Club Open Bronze event, but he was unable to convert the chance, losing out to Egypt’s Aly Abou Eleinen in four games.

“The final loss in Hong Kong stung quite a bit. It was my first World Tour final and to lose that was quite hard. I feel like I’m in such a better place now than I was in December. I feel physically better now, but Hong Kong came at a tough time as I’d played a few events back to back, so I think this time around I was fresher and more motivated heading into it. I’d lost two finals already this season so I was adamant to win this one.”

The El Gouna International, the British Open and the PSA World Championships are all on the horizon as we head into the back end of the PSA World Tour season, and Yow is determined to carry his recent momentum into some of the biggest events on the calendar.

“I want to start doing this more and start to play my style of squash and beat these guys. I want to make the quarters and maybe even the semis, thats the target. I’m really motivated and excited to get stuck into these events and try to get some big wins.”

Yow now sits just six places off a spot in the world’s top 10 and says that wins against top 10 players are essential to him being able to achieve that milestone.

“I think overall, just being able to play my style of squash is important if I want to break into the top 10. I think over the past few years I’ve tried to minimise the weaknesses in my game instead of focusing on my strengths. I think that is they key and also just having that belief that I can beat players in the top 10 and hopefully that will take me closer to the top 10 so I can break into it.”