PART ONE PART TWO PART THREE

Today, after a lot of pouring of emotions yesterday, back to squash performances. It was a good month for the lesser-known of the Malik Team, Heston, Bailey and Perry.

Heston, upsetting the rankings

Heston

The Tunbridge Wells Open saw Perry, Bailey and Heston all competing, Perry ending up winning it but Heston had an interesting week as well!

Heston kicks off the 1st round with a 4-game win over Frenchman Laouenan Loaëc, then up against Lwamba Chileshe from New Zealand and wins in a very up and down 3-2 to cause the upset over the higher-seeded player.

The best was still to come for Heston in the quarters, with a first meeting with Emyr Evans, world no.72, where he managed to produce the biggest win of his career so far, winning in 4 close games.

Heston stopped in the semis against Ben Smith, current world no. 93. They have never met before, but Heston quickly went to a 2-1 lead playing some really attacking squash. Ben came back to win in 5 games and knock Heston out of the event after a great week, preventing an all-Malik final (more details below!)

Bailey, upsetting the rankings, too!

Bailey

Two good events for Bailey in a row, starting with the London Open.

Bailey started by winning in 4 against a fellow junior rival in Oliver Dunbar from New Zealand.

Biggest upset was to come in the next match, as Bailey faced, Nick Wall (WR45) and the no.1 seed for the event. Back and forth throughout the match, Bailey came through in 5 games to record his biggest win so far on the PSA.

Quarters day and Bailey goes on, confirming his form, producing another amazing upset beating Argentine no.2 and WR70 Jeremias Azana 3-2 in 80mins!

Semi-finals day, and it sets up a brotherly meeting with Perry and Bailey, the first time on PSA. Perry came through an exciting battle to reach his first 15k Final, where he bowed to George Parker, WR52, in three tight games.

A few days later, Bailey is at Tunbridge Wells Open, along with his two brothers, Heston and Perry.

After overcoming wildcard Ronnie Hickling, Bailey wins again with Oliver Dunbar again, this time even more convincingly with a 3-0 win to carry on the good form from last week in London.

Quarter Finals day, Bailey is facing the No.1 seed for the event, Frenchman, Edwin Clain, WR80 and goes 2-1 down in games. With some good quality squash, he manages to come through in 5 games and score yet a 3rd top 80 win in the space of 2 weeks!

While Heston was battling against Ben Smith in the first semi, Bailey played his elder brother Perry. Bailey has had a lot of long matches in his legs, and it shows with Perry looking fresher and sharper, winning with a score line of 3-0 to put him into the final.

And the rest, is history. I mean, literally, it is…

Perry Making history

Coincidentally, Perry Malik, just made history as I was putting the final touches to my Malik Week. Bless you, Perry, you couldn’t have timed it better, ta!

Perry

The Tunbridge Wells Open – Perry write PSA History

Perry Malik made history for the Malik family at The Tunbridge Wells Open sponsored by Vega It & 501 Fun, winning his maiden PSA Tour title.

Tunbridge Final:
[3] Perry Malik (ENG) bt [4] Ben Smith (ENG) 11-8, 11-1, 11-5 (23m)
Semis
[4] Ben Smith (ENG) bt [9/16] Heston Malik (ENG) 11-7, 4-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-5 (50m)
[3] Perry Malik (ENG) bt [9/16] Bailey Malik (ENG) 11-9, 11-8, 11-9 (27m)

The 24-year-old arrived in Kent in good form, having reached the London Open final a few days earlier, but was pushed hard in round one here, needing all five games to beat Jared Carter.

A 3-0 win over Will Salter followed, setting up a showdown with his younger brother Bailey Malik, with Heston Malik featuring in the other semi-final against Ben Smith.

Heston was ultimately unable to tee up an all-Malik final, going down 3-2 to the more experienced Smith, but Perry would go on to secure glory nonetheless, beating Bailey 3-0 before putting in an impressive display to sink Smith 3-0 in the final.

Success for Malik not only secured him a first PSA Tour title, but also saw him follow in the footsteps of his older brother Curtis, younger sister Torrie and younger brother Bailey in winning PSA Tour titles, marking the first time in PSA Tour history that four siblings have all won a PSA Tour title.

Malik’s success, in what was his final event of the calendar year, also helped move him up to a new career-high ranking of No.73 in the world.