Malaysia’s Low snares another title in Shanghai
Print Edition
THREE-TIME China Open winner Low Wee Wern sees a bright future for China’s squash ahead. The second-seeded Malaysian edged top seed Camille Serme of France 3-2 (11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10) in the women’s final of the 2014 World Squash China Open, hosted on the roof of The Peninsula Shanghai hotel.
Low had also won the Shanghai legs in 2011 and 2012. Winning the title three times in four years, the world No. 7 said she expects to be challenged by a local player one day.
“Squash has good prospects in China. It is still in the beginning stage and they will need a few years more to reach the top level, especially the women players. (Squash) in Malaysia did not start long ago either. While the men’s games need improvements, the women have already reached a high level. Chinese women players should expect the same.”
Low, 24, dominated the first two games before world No. 5 Serme battled back to drag the match into the deciding game, where Low took 3-0 and 7-3 leads and served at 10-8. Serme saved two match points before the Malaysian claimed the title.
The men’s final was a battle between two English players. Top seed James Willstrop beat defending champion Peter Barker 3-2 (11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 10-12, 11-5) to win his first PSA World Tour title of the year.
The 31-year-old got the better of the more emotional Barker in the 100-minute final.
Each of them played a good half with Willstrop taking a 2-0 lead before Barker caught up with him. Barker, however, fell short in the final game as the former world No. 1 Willstrop took in everything Barker threw at him to clinch the title with a 11-5 win in the decider.
Li Sheng, CEO of co-organizer SECA, hopes the roof top event serves as an eye opener and brings in more audience.
“It is the first time that I watched a squash game,” a spectator surnamed Wan said. “My friends and I were trying to figure out the rules at the beginning. We managed to understand some, but had to hook on to the Wi-Fi to understand a few things. But it is still an exciting sport to watch.”
Barker said the best way to understand the sport is probably to play the game themselves.
“You try it out and you will understand all the things we were doing,” he said.
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