Northern Joe Cup: Nghiem Takes First Title, Malik Wins Men’s Crown

The Northern Joe Cup came to its conclusion on with a pair of English players taking the glory at Fairways Lodge in Manchester. Saran Nghiem claimed her maiden Tour title, while Curtis Malik lived up to being the top seed to win the first men’s event of the new season.

Nghiem, the 18-year-old from Manchester, came into the tournament as the No.4 seed, and she had the home crowd behind her all week. After receiving a bye through the opening day’s action, the Englishwoman started with a comfortable victory over Amy Royle to get her campaign underway.

She then got the better of No.5 seed Katie Wells in straight games in the quarter finals, before coming up against No.2 seed, Scotland’s Alison Thomson, in the last four of the competition. A tight second game went the way of Nghiem on a tie-break, and that was crucial for her to win in straight games to move through to the final.

In the final, she took on No.3 seed Torrie Malik, who had knocked out the event’s highest-ranked player, Millie Tomlinson, in the semis. Nghiem found herself two games down, and she had to fight back from the brink. The 18-year-old, who sits 23 places below Malik in the World Rankings, won the third game 11-6, before then taking both the fourth and fifth games by an 11-9 scoreline, to come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and claim her maiden Tour title.

The men’s event was a much more straight-forward victory for Curtis Malik, as he dropped just a single game across his four matches to become the first men’s winner on Tour in the 2022-2023 season. He started with a win against New Zealand’s Joel Arscott, before then defeating No.6 seed Marek Panacek in make it through to the semi-finals.

In the last four, Malik came up against the unseeded Finnlay Withington, and after dropping the first game, the tournament’s top seed fought back to win in four, after a crucial second game tie-break went his way. In the final, he came up against Welshman Elliott Morris Devred, and won in straight games to claim his second Tour title in as many months, following his win in Hove in July.

Results: Northern Joe Cup
Men’s Final
[1] Curtis Malik (ENG) bt Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 (35m)

Women’s Final
[4] Saran Nghiem (ENG) bt [3] Torrie Malik (ENG) 3-2: 10-12, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 (53m)

Men’s Semi-Finals
[1] Curtis Malik (ENG) bt Finnlay Withington (ENG) 3-1: 9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-5 (41m)
Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) bt Alasdair Prott (SCO) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 (28m)

Women’s Semi-Finals
[3] Torrie Malik (ENG) bt [1] Millie Tomlinson (ENG) 3-2: 7-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9, 12-10 (63m)
[4] Saran Nghiem (ENG) bt [2] Alison Thomson (SCO) 3-0: 11-3, 12-10, 11-5 (31m)

Men’s Quarter Finals
[1] Curtis Malik (ENG) bt [6] Marek Panacek (CZE) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 (44m)
Finnlay Withington (ENG) bt Vini Rodrigues (BRA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (32m)
Alasdair Prott (SCO) bt [3] Ben Smith (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-1, 11-5 (16m)
Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) bt [8] Stuart MacGregor (ENG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-8 (36m)

Women’s Quarter Finals
[1] Millie Tomlinson (ENG) bt [7] Asia Harris (ENG) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 11-5 (27m)
[3] Torrie Malik (ENG) bt [8] Polly Clark (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 (20m)
[4] Saran Nghiem (ENG) bt [5] Katie Wells (ENG) 3-0: 11-2, 11-7, 11-8 (22m)
[2] Alison Thomson (SCO) bt Lowri Roberts (WAL) 3-1: 11-9, 11-5, 7-11, 11-6 (37m)

Men’s Round Two
[1] Curtis Malik (ENG) bt Joel Arscott (NZL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (42m)
[6] Marek Panacek (CZE) bt [WC] Sam Osborne-Wylde (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 (43m)
Finnlay Withington (ENG) bt [7] Joeri Hapers (BEL) 3-1: 11-6, 11-5, 11-13, 11-7 (52m)
Vini Rodrigues (BRA) bt [4] Sean Conroy (IRL) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 (32m)
[3] Ben Smith (ENG) bt Perry Malik (ENG) 3-1: 13-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8 (44m)
Alasdair Prott (SCO) bt [5] Owain Taylor (WAL) 3-2: 5-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-1, 11-6 (64m)
[8] Stuart MacGregor (ENG) bt Lewis Doughty (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 12-10, 11-5 (35m)
Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) bt [2] Simon Herbert (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 (31m)

Women’s Round Two
[1] Millie Tomlinson (ENG) bt Catherine Holland (SCO) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-2 (14m)
[7] Asia Harris (ENG) bt Phoebe Colman (ENG) 3-0: 11-1, 11-4, 11-6 (19m)
[8] Polly Clark (ENG) bt Maisara Azlan (MAS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 13-11 (29m)
[3] Torrie Malik (ENG) bt Juliette Permentier (NED) 3-1: 11-3, 11-1, 12-14, 11-3 (24m)
[4] Saran Nghiem (ENG) bt Amy Royle (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-4 (17m)
[5] Katie Wells (ENG) bt Jasmin Kalar (ENG) 3-0: 11-2, 11-9, 11-5 (18m)
Lowri Roberts (WAL) bt [6] Kiera Marshall (ENG) 3-2: 16-18, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8 (54m)
[2] Alison Thomson (SCO) bt Grace Clark (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 10-12, 11-2, 11-3 (36m)

Men’s Round One
Joel Arscott (NZL) bt [WC] Carlton Oldham (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 (29m)
[WC] Sam Osborne-Wylde (ENG) bt Connor Sheen (ENG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-9, 11-5 (29m)
Finnlay Withington (ENG) bt Amaad Fareed (PAK) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 (31m)
Vini Rodrigues (BRA) bt Liam Marrison (CAN) 3-2: 11-6, 6-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6 (45m)
Perry Malik (ENG) bt John Meehan (SCO) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-3 (28m)
Alasdair Prott (SCO) bt [WC] Isaac Rawcliffe (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 (24m)
Lewis Doughty (ENG) bt [WC] Oscar Beach (ENG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 (25m)
Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) bt Hasnaat Farooqi (ENG) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-8 (26m)

Women’s Round One
Catherine Holland (SCO) bt Kainat Amir (PAK) 3-1: 10-12, 11-1, 11-1, 11-5 (22m)
Phoebe Colman (ENG) bt [WC] Miriam Mulla (ENG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-3, 11-5 (16m)
Maisara Azlan (MAS) bt [WC] Mia Leahey (ENG) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-1 (16m)
Juliette Permentier (NED) bt Lauren Tamila (ENG) 3-1: 10-12, 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 (29m)
Amy Royle (ENG) bt Chloe Foster (WAL) 3-1: 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 (26m)
Jasmin Kalar (ENG) bt [WC] Charlie McCrone (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 12-10 (30m)
Lowri Roberts (WAL) bt Sofia Aveiro Pita (POR) 3-1: 11-3, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8 (25m)
Grace Clark (ENG) bt Katie Cox (ENG) 3-2: 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 9-11, 11-9 (43m)