Tuanku Muhriz Trophy: Evans Shocks Top Seed Singh To Gatecrash Quarter Finals

Wales’ Emyr Evans scored the biggest upset on day two of the Tuanku Muhriz Trophy 2023 as he overcame top seed Abhay Singh to reach the last eight of the Challenger 15 event taking place at the S2 Sports Complex in Seremban.

The Welshman is ranked 33 places lower than Singh but showed great tenacity to fight back after losing the first game against the top seeded Indian. Evans took a 2-1 lead by winning games two and three 11-8, 11-7 before cruising to a 10-2 lead in game four. He then fire a backhand crosscourt past the reach of Singh to seal the 3-1 win.

“I’m happy with how I played today,” said Evans after his win.

“I’ve been feeling good recently and I had a great start to the season last week at the British Nationals. I wanted to back that up and keep on top of the good squash that I played.

“I tried to make it tough physically today which I felt worked in my favour towards the end, but overall I’m really happy to get the win and I’m looking forward to the next round.”

The other upset in the men’s draw came from Hong Kong’s Tang Ming Hong, who defeated No.7 seed Yannick Omlor from Germany in straight games. The World No.90 came through a tight first game, winning 13-11 before finding top form to close out the next two games 11-3, 11-9 to move into the quarter finals.

All the other top eight seeds progressed to the next round with Egypt’s Yassin Elshafei having the closest match as he battled past Pakistan’s Noor Zaman in a five game thriller to advance. Zaman took a 2-1 lead and looked poised to be scoring another upset but back came the Egyptian. He took game four 11-8 to set up a decider and narrowly edged out Zaman in nail-biting fifth game to win 13-11 and avoid an early exit.

There were no seeding causalities in the women’s draw as all top eight seeds made their way through to the final eight. The all-Egyptian clash between Malak Khafagy and Menna Walid proved to be the closest of the matches as the higher seeded Khafagy recovered fro 2-1 down to fight back and win the match in five games, taking both the final games 11-8.

The home crowd will have plenty to cheer about in tomorrow’s quarter finals as five of the eight players are Malaysian including top seed Sivasangari Subramaniam, who will be looking to score valuable ranking points to push herself back into contention for World Tour events.

You can watch the Tuanku Muhriz Trophy live on the PSA Challenger Tour YouTube channel here.

Results: Men’s round two
[9/16] Emyr Evans (WAL) bt [1] Abhay Singh (IND) 3-1: 10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-2 (58m)
[8] Aly Hussein (EGY) bt [9/16] Wong Chi Him (HKG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-1 (33m)
[6] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt [9/16] Mohamed Nasser (EGY) 3-1: 8-11, 11-3, 11-5, 15-13 (55m)
[4] Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt [9/16] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) 3-1: 11-4, 11-2, 7-11, 11-9 (47m)
[3] Addeen Idrakie (MAS) bt [WC] Ameeshenraj Chandaran (MAS) 3-1: 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 (59m)
[5] Yassin Elshafei (EGY) bt [9/16] Noor Zaman (PAK) 3-2: 5-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-8, 13-11 (53m)
[9/16] Tang Ming Hong (HKG) bt [7] Yannik Omlor (GER) 3-0: 13-11, 11-3, 11-9 (36m)
[2] Muhammad Asim Khan (PAK) bt [9/16] Khaled Labib (EGY) 3-0: 11-2, 12-10, 11-5 (32m)

Draw: Men’s quarter finals
[9/16] Emyr Evans (WAL) v [8] Aly Hussein (EGY)
[6] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) v [4] Ivan Yuen (MAS)
[3] Addeen Idrakie (MAS) v [5] Yassin Elshafei (EGY)
[9/16] Tang Ming Hong (HKG) v [2] Muhammad Asim Khan (PAK)

Results: Women’s round two
[1] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt Sehveetrraa Kumar (MAS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-1, 11-1 (16m)
[6] Chan Yiwen (MAS) bt Yu Jie (MAS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 13-11 (20m)
[8] Nour Heikal (EGY) bt [9/16] Malak Fathy (EGY) 3-1: 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11 (46m)
[3] Malak Khafagy (EGY) bt [9/16] Menna Walid (EGY) 3-2: 9-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8 (53m)
[4] Ainaa Amani (MAS) bt [WC] Goh Zhi Xuan (MAS) 3-0: 11-5, 12-10, 11-1 (20m)
[7] Yasshmita Jadishkumar (MAS) bt [9/16] Nour Khafagy (EGY) 3-1: 8-11, 12-10, 11-3, 11-7 (57m)
[5] Menna Hamed (EGY) bt [9/16] Erisa Sano Herring (JPN) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 (19m)
[2] Aira Azman (MAS) bt [9/16] Heng Wai Wong (MAS) 3-0: 13-11, 11-8, 11-7 (

Draw: Women’s quarter finals
[1] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) v [6] Chan Yiwen (MAS)
[8] Nour Heikal (EGY) v [3] Malak Khafagy (EGY)
[4] Ainaa Amani (MAS) v [7] Yasshmita Jadishkumar (MAS)
[5] Menna Hamed (EGY) v [2] Aira Azman (MAS)