World No.45 Torrie Malik staged one of the comebacks of the PSA Squash Tour season to continue her career-best run at the New Zealand Squash Open, recovering from a serious-looking injury to defeat Nour Heikal in five games at Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malik looked down and out of her contest with World No.46 Heikal after hyper-extending her left knee early in the fourth game and subsequently sitting 8-2 down and just three points away from a quarter-final exit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Englishwoman produced a miraculous turnaround, reeling off eight straight points to help steal the fourth game before closing out a dramatic 8\u201311, 11\u20137, 3\u201311, 12\u201310, 11\u20137 victory to reach her maiden Silver-level semi-final on the PSA Squash Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the match, Malik said: “I’m a bit like ‘what just happened!’ Obviously, I went into a mental state [after my injury] where I had to focus, relax and just think that I had absolutely nothing to lose as I was 8-2 down. I just wanted to let the arm go and try reset. I think I did mentally well to stay strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You never really know with a hyperextension how bad it is, but luckily, it was okay to carry on. It’s a bit painful now, but hopefully I’ll be fine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malik will face No.3 seed Nele Gilis in the semi-finals after the Belgian No.2 overcame a slow start to hold off a dangerous attacking display from No.6 seed Aifa Azman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, top seed Tinne Gilis defeated No.8 seed Ka Yi Lee in four games, and No.5 seed Marina Stefanoni came through a back-and-forth five-game duel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men’s draw, two-time defending champion Paul Coll punched his ticket in the last four with a dominant 3-0 win over Malaysian No.1 Eain Yow Ng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a nervy opening to his title quest against Moustafa Elsirty last night, Coll looked back to his very best as he wrapped up a clinical 11-4, 11-2, 11-2 win over the Ng after just 34 minutes of play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I had a solid game-plan today and I felt good,” Coll said after the match. “The first round definitely sharpened me up a bit. The rest of the train [of supporters] have been rolling in, I felt the energy and I enjoyed it.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coll will face unseeded Spaniard Iker Pajares for a spot in Sunday’s final, after the World No.34 ended the impressive run of Matias Knudsen in an entertaining four-game victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the bottom half of the men’s draw, No.2 seed Joel Makin and No.3 seed Mohamad Zakaria set up a mouth-watering semi-final after the pair claimed respective wins over England’s Patrick Rooney and No.7 seed Nicolas Mueller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neither player had things entirely their own way despite the 3\u20130 scorelines, but both stayed composed to advance without trouble and book a third meeting of the season, with the head-to-heads locked at one win apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men’s Quarter-Finals: <\/strong>[1] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [5] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-2, 11-2 (34m); Iker Pajares (ESP) bt Matias Knudsen (COL) 3-1: 11-4, 10-12, 11-5, 11-4 (61m); [3] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) bt [7] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 (46m); [2] Joel Makin (WAL) bt Patrick Rooney (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 (66m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women’s Quarter-Finals: <\/strong>[1] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt [8] Ka Yi Lee (HKG) 3-1: 8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-3 (34m); [5] Marina Stefanoni (USA) bt [4] Aira Azman (MAS) 3-2: 11-13, 11-1, 10-12, 11-9, 11-1 (49m); [3] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt [6] Aifa Azman (MAS) 3-0: 12-10, 11-9, 11-3 (37m); Torrie Malik (ENG) bt Nour Heikal (EGY) 3-2: 8-11, 11-7, 3-11, 12-10, 11-7 (56m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" World No.45 Torrie Malik staged one of the comebacks of the PSA Squash Tour season to continue her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-10233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t