The Tuanku Muhriz Trophy QFs: Lau & Singh Win in Five as Top Seeds All Reach Semis

The top four seeds all progressed through to semi-finals day at The Tuanku Muhriz Trophy, though men’s top seed Tsz Kwan Lau and fourth seed Abhay Singh were both pushed hard for their victories. 

Opening play against rising Pakistani talent Noor Zaman, Lau fell behind after losing game one 11-7, but turned things back in his favour by winning the next two 11-9, 11-6. 

He then had victory within his reach as game four went to a tiebreak, but Zaman held firm, closing it out 12-10 to force a decider. 

That would ultimately just delay Lau’s progress into the final four, though, as the Hong Kong player took game five 11-7, gluing a backhand winner to the wall on match ball. 

Fourth seed Singh also needed five games to book his spot in the semi-finals, beating Hong Kong’s Tang Ming Hong. 

Singh is ranked 29 places above Tang in the world at No.62, and the opening two games suggested the Indian player was in for a routine win, losing only eight points in total as he cruised into a 2-0 lead. 

But Tang had other ideas, taking the next two games 11-5, 11-8, only to fall short in his comeback efforts, losing the fifth 11-7. 

Singh’s reward for his victory is a matchup with compatriot Velevan Senthilkumar, in what will be a rematch of the recent Indian National Championships final, which Singh won 3-2. 

Senthilkumar beat Mohammad Syafiq Kamal to leave third seed Addeen Idrakie as the only Malaysian player left in the men’s draw. 

Idrakie fought back from a game down to beat Mohamed Nasser 3-1, but he will be joined in the semi-finals by three home favourites in the women’s draw.

Top seed Aifa Azman was the first to secure her place in the women’s semi-finals, getting the better of compatriot Yasshmita Jadish Kumar 3-1, before being joined later in the day by her younger sister Aira, who beat Akanksha Salunkhe 3-0. 

As the top two seeds, Aifa and Aira remain on course for meeting in the final, but they will first have to get past Chan Sin Yuk and Ainaa Amani respecively. 

Hong Kong’s Chan produced a dominant display to ease past Sehveetrraa Kumar 3-0, dropping only 13 points in the match, while Amani saw off the dangerous threat of Egypt’s Hana Ismail, putting a third-game loss behind her to win 3-1. 

The semi-finals get underway at 2pm local time on Saturday, August 30^th, streaming live on the PSNS Squash YouTube channel.