Lee Ka Yi is one of a group of Hong Kong players sitting in and around the top 50 in the World Rankings.

After making her first appearance on the Tour back in 2008, Ka Yi waited three years for her first win in the main draw of an event, as she reached the quarter-finals of the Crocodile Challenger Cup. She made the same stage of the event a year later as well.

Her first appearance in a final came in 2015, at the Contrex Challenger Cup. She lifted the title after defeating Tze Lok Ho in the final. She then made the final of the event a year later, but was unable to retain her title, losing out to Andrea Lee.

In the twelve month period between those tournaments, the Hong Konger also made the semis of the IJM Land 4th Penang Women’s Open, and had last gift appearances at the 3rd Bahria Town International Women’s Squash Championship and the NSW Squash Open Championships.

Ka Yi reached three semi-finals in 2017, doing so at the 2nd Nissan Open Squash Championships, South Australian Open and Malaysian Squash Tour X, along with a string of quarter-final finishes. She then finished runner-up at the Singapore Open in 2018, before reaching the final of the Contrex Challenger Cup for a third time, but she lost out to Melissa Alves.

The Hong Konger would not have to wait too long for that elusive second title though, as she lifted the China Suqian International Squash Classic trophy in September 2019. The win, along with a first match win at a major tournament, as she reached the second round of the FS Investments U.S. Open Squash Championships, saw her break into the top 50 in the World Rankings for the first time in her career.

Ka Yi made it to the semi-finals of the Seattle Open. In her first appearance of 2020, before also recording last eight finishes at the Calgary CFO Consulting Services PSA Women’s Squash Week and the Queen City Open, her last events before the suspension of the Tour due to COVID-19.

She returned to the Tour, like a lot of Hong Kong players, at the trio of events in her home nation in early 2021. She made the quarter finals of both the Chairman Cup and Hong Kong Football Club PSA, along with making it into the semis of the Chairman Cup 2.

After that, she went on to feature at the PSA World Championships and Allam British Open, along with also making it to the last 16 of the Capra Baerum Open, London Open and the Bronze level Malaysian Open Squash Championships to round out her 2021.

She then started the New Year with a semi-final appearance at the Calgary CFO Consulting Services Women’s Squash Week, and a quarter final result at the Karachi Open Squash Championships, losing out to compatriot Chan Sin Yuk on both occasions.

Lee also made another semi-final later in the year, at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, and reached the last 16 of the Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open. She broke into the world’s top 40 for the first time in September 2022, and started 2023 just outside that mark. Lee finished runner-up in the CSC Delaware Open in one of her early appearances in 2023, before then making it into the last 16 of the Chestnut Hill Classic.