ACE Malaysia Squash Cup 2024

Orfi denies Subramaniam as Ng beats top seed for home title

In two Malaysia v Egypt battles between the top two seeds that both went ways of the second seed, Eain Yow Ng beat Youssef Soliman while Amina Orfi defeated Sivasangari Subramaniam in the 2024 ACE Malaysia Squash Cup finals at The Curve shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur.

In the men’s final, home favourite Ng got the better of  World No.11 Soliman, pulling away from 7-7 in each of the three games to claim his first title of the season in front of a packed Kuala Lumpur crowd.

“I’m really happy win my second big title here in Malaysia,” said Ng. “I won the Malaysian Open back in 2019 so I’m really happy to do it again. Thank you everyone for attending, thank you everyone for the support, it really helped us push through.”

In the women’s final second seed Orfi upset top seed and Malaysia #1 Subramaniam to win her second major PSA title of her career. After the first four games were shared Orfi took the final game 11-6 after a gruelling 89 minutes.

“Like in my Squash on Fire final I was up and I lost a game. I had to stay focused and Siva is under immense pressure – she’s the Malaysian No.1, World No.9 and she’s playing in front of her home crowd. I think I worked that to my advantage in the end.”

Top seeds set to contest finals in KL

Both ACE Malaysia Cup finals will be battles between the top two seeds, with Malaysian interest in both.

Malaysian #1s Sivasangari Subramaniam and Eain Yow Ng both earned their places in the ACE Malaysia Squash Cup finals with wins against Scotland’s Georgia Adderley and India’s Abhay Singh.

Top seed Youssef Soliman claimed the other men’s final place with after defeating fellow Egyptian and third3 seed Youssef Ibrahim in a 95-minute battle, while second seed Amina Orfi won out in a clash with Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold.

Malaysian top seed Sivasangari earned the first win of the day over Scotland’s Adderley,  guaranting an improvement on last year’s Cup campaign that saw her lose out in the semi-finals.

“I played pretty well today compared to the last time we played two weeks ago,” said the Malaysian after the match. “I think i was very disciplined with my game plan. She’s a runner, she’s a fighter so I tried to stay as disciplined as I can and just try and execute my game plan. I think I did really well to win in three. It’s always great to be playing at home, especially in front of all this home crowd. Please come again tomorrow and support me, and hopefully I do well.”

In the final match of the day Ng secured the win over India’s Abhay Singh to confirm his spot in the final.

“I feel relieved. Overall, I think that was quite a tough match. Abhay’s such an accurate player that you can’t give him any chances. He didn’t let me feel comfortable on there. The threat of his straight lines, straight drops are so good. He’s had a great run this tournament. We all know how dangerous he is and I was prepared for it. I’m just happy to get through.”

The first men’s semi-final saw a cagey affair between Egyptian compatriots Soliman and Youssef Ibrahim that spanned 95 minutes.

“It was a hell of a battle,” said Soliman. “He controlled, I controlled, He’s adjusting, I’m adjusting and that’s how we want to play the game of squash.”

Egyptian prodigy Orfi earned her place in the women’s final with a confident victory over home favourite and third seed Rachel Arnold.

“I felt the first game was the key to the match,” said Orfi. “Last few times I lost the first game to her when I was leading, so for a change I won the game when she was leading so I’m happy that I won it.”

Day THREE : Singh stops fourth seed as Quarter-finalists are confirmed

Abhay Singh upset Qater’s fourth seed Abdulla Al-Tamimi to progress to his second Bronze-level quarter-final in as many months, setting up an all-Indian quarter-final with Velavan Senthilkumar who  produced the only other upset of the day, taking out Hungary’s Balazs Farkas in straight games.

Elsewhere Malaysian second seed Eain Yow Ng advanced to a quarter-final against Spain’s Bernat Jaume, both winning in straight games.

In the women’s draw all four seeds progressed in straight games. Second and seventh seeds Amina Orfi and Kenzy Ayman will meet in an all-Egyptian quarter, while home favourite Rachel Arnold will face England’s Katie Malliff.

Quarters :  Home trio reach the semi-finals in KL

Home trio Siva Subramanian, Rachel Arnold and Eain Yow Ng all reached the semi-finals after quarter-final victories on Day Four at The Curve shopping mall in KL.

Top seed Subramaniam beat compatriot Aifa Zaman and now faces Scotland’s Georgia Adderley, who beat Aifa’s younger sister Aira. Third seed Arnold came through a tough four-game battle with Katie Malliff with Egypt’s world junior champion Amina Orfi up next.

In the men’s draw second seed Ng beat Spain’s Bernat Jaume in straight games and now faces unseeded Abhay Singh, who won his all-Indian match with Velavan Senthilkumar to reach his first Bronze quarter-final. The top half of the draw guarantees an Egyptian finalist as top and third seeds Youffef Soliman and Youssef Ibrahim both advanced in four games.

Day Two : Round Two begins with home hat-trick

Day Two in Kuala Lumpur saw top seeds Sivasangari Subramaniam and Youssef Soliman both reach the quarter-finals as the second round got underway.

Malaysia’s Sivasangari reached the semi-finals of last year’s Malaysia Squash Cup, losing out to eventual winner Nour El Tayeb in the semi-finals, beath Egypt’s Nour Heikal to reach the quarter-finals.

In the men’s draw Egyptian top seed Soliman survived an late resurgence from Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue in a strong start to his campaign, setting up a quarter-final clash with fifth seed Ramit Tandon.

Elsewhere all seeds progressed including Malaysian sisters Aira and Aifa Azman as the pair joined Sivasangari in the quarter-finals after beating out Sarah Cardwell and Cristina Gomez, while third and seventh seeds Youssef Ibrahim and Juan Camilo Vargas won through to the men’s quarters.

Round Two continues with the bottom half of the draws on Thursday.

Round ONE : Under way at The Curve

The ACE Malaysia Cup got under way in KL with first round matches split between The Curve shopping mall and the National Sports Complex.

There was just one home winner as Ainaa Amani got the better of wildcard Yassmita Jadish Kumar to set up another all-Malaysian clash with third seed Rachel Arnold, winner of the Gold level China Open a few days ago.

.The biggest seeding upsets saw Cristina Gomez and Sarah Cardwell progress to the second round after beating Nour Megahed and Tong Tsz-Wing .

Round Two is split over the next two days with all matches at the Curve.