Malaysian Open: Story of 2022

With the Ace Malaysia Squash Cup 2023 just around the corner, we’re taking a look back at the 2022 Bronze-level event, which saw Nele Gilis and Mazen Hesham capture the titles.

World No.4 Mostafa Asal and World No.8 Nour El Tayeb top the respective draws at this year’s event, with fellow Egyptian’s Karim Abdel Gawad and Farida Mohamed the No.2 seeds.

The Ace Malaysia Squash Cup 2023 will take place between 6-10 November, with all of the action available to watch live on SQUASHTV.

You can also keep up to date with all the action by visiting the PSA World Tour website or following the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

In the build-up to the tournament, we’re reflecting on the main talking points from each round at last year’s event.

Round One

There was plenty of home delight on day one of the event, as Malaysia’s World No.106 Ainaa Amani upset World No.28 Zeina Mickawy 3-2 to set up a second round clash with defending champion Aifa Azman.

After falling 2-1 down to her higher ranked opponent, Amani responded brilliantly, levelling the match by taking the fourth 11-7 before sealing a memorable victory with an 11-6 win in the fifth.

Malaysia’s Adeen Idrakie produced the second big Malaysian upset of the round, as he overcame former World No.3 Omar Mosaad in four games to reach the second round for the first time.

Elsewhere, there were straight games wins from the likes of 9/16-seeded trio Yathreb Adel, Julianne Courtice and Nour Aboulmakarim in the women’s draw.

Karim El Hammamy was the only other seed to fall in the men’s draw, losing out to Faraz Khan in four hard-fought games. The American came through the bout in 62 minutes to set up a tie with No.3 seed Mazen Hesham.

Round Two

Round two of action saw all of the men’s top four seeds, Tarek Momen, Joel Makin, Mazen Hesham and Marwan ElShorbagy safely progress to the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, England’s Patrick Rooney completed a spectacular comeback from two games to defeat World No.29 Egypt’s Mohamed ElSherbini.

Colombian No.5 seed Miguel Rodriguez edged a brutal five-game encounter against America’s Shahjahan Khan in 88 minutes of all-out action. Rodriguez had to dig deep to comeback from 2-1 down to force a decider, and eventually seal the fifth game 11-9.

In the women’s draw, the only top eight seed to fall was South Africa’s No.7 seed Alexandra Fuller, who lost 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 9-11 to Egypt’s Yathreb Adel.

Elsewhere, there were straight games wins for the women’s top three seeds, Olivia Fiechter, Nele Gilis, and Tesni Evans.

No.4 seed Nadine Shahin was made to fight for her spot in the last eight, coming through a five game clash against compatriot Nour Aboulmakarim 11-6, 11-3, 11-13, 10-12, 11-7 in 64 minutes.

Quarter-Finals

No.6 seed Nicolas Mueller and No.8 seed Rachel Arnold produced the two upsets of the quarter-finals, as they defeated their higher seeded opponents, Marwan ElShorbagy and Nadine Shahin, respectively.

Swiss No.1 Mueller steamrolled ElShorbagy in the first game, catching his opponent cold from the off, before racing into a two-game advantage. Despite the Englishman reducing the deficit to 2-1, Mueller took the fourth 11-7 to progress to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s No.8 seed Arnold thrived off the home support to win a topsy-turvy clash against Shahin in four games and 36 minutes of action.

Elsewhere, Olivia Fiechter defeated Yathreb Adel in straight games, Nele Gilis eased past Azman by the same margin and Tesni Evans battled past French No.1 Melissa Alves after five games and 70 minutes of edge-of-your-seat squash.

In the men’s draw, Hesham downed England’s Rooney in straight games to set up a last four clash against Joel Makin. No.1 seed Tarek Momen booked his spot in the semi-finals after he cruised past Addeen Idrakie in just 29 minutes.

Semi-Finals

No.3 seed Hesham recorded a first tour victory over Welshman Makin to set-up a final showdown against compatriot Momen.

Hesham was dominant throughout as he moved into a 2-0 lead, before Makin – who appeared to be carrying an injury – clawed the third game back 13-11. However, that proved to be the Welshman’s last act of resistance, with his opponent quickly wrapping up the fourth game 11-3.

No.1 seed Momen guaranteed that the event would have its first Egyptian winner since 2014 after ruthlessly dispatching Mueller 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 in just 27 minutes of play.

In the women’s half of the draw, top seed Fiechter had a tougher time of it in her semi-final bout against No.3 seed Evans.

The Welshwoman raced out of the blocks to capture the first game 11-7, but Fiechter responded calmly, constructing her rallies well to move 2-1 ahead, thanks to 11-7 and 11-3 victories. The match turned a little scrappy in the fourth, but Fiechter kept her nose in front throughout the game to eventually take it 11-7 and progress to the final.

World No.14 Gilis also had to come through a tough encounter to reach her third final of the season, ending home hopes with a 3-2 win over World No.26 Arnold.

Arnold noticeably fed off the emotion of the home crowd in the opening stages of the match, firing the ball in short to great success and edging the first game 12-10.

However, Gilis hit back in style in the second, recording a brutal 11-0 victory, before moving ahead in the match after taking the third 11-9. The Malaysian dug in well to force a fifth game, but she eventually fell off as Gilis’ endurance came to the fore in the decider, winning it 11-6.

Finals

Hesham secured the biggest title of his career, and his first since 2015, after battling back from two games down to defeat compatriot and No.1 seed Momen.

Momen caught Hesham cold at the beginning of their encounter, with the latter having no answers as Momen emphatically took the first 11-2 and the second by an 11-8 scoreline.

However, from there, Hesham spun the match on it’s head, finding his range and taking the subsequent two games 11-6, 11-8. In a slightly scrappy fifth game, ‘The Falcon’ couldn’t be stopped, as he raced away and won a first title since 2015.

In the women’s final, Belgium’s Gilis claimed her third title in as many months after she overcame Fiechter for the second time is as many tournaments.

The American started the match the better of the two, looking strong and assured for her 11-5 opening game victory. However, Gilis responded as she did in her semi-final bout against Arnold, battling back to take the subsequent two games and take a 2-1 lead.

Fiechter looked destined to send the match to a deciding game at 8-4 up in the fourth, but the No.2 seed had other ideas. Gilis continued to stay solid and force errors off Fiechter’s racket to nick the game 11-9 and clinch the title after 59 minutes of action.