IN an action-packed start to the 2024 ACE Malaysia Squash Cup, two massive ranking upsets see Cristina Gomez and Sarah Cardwell both progress to the second round after beating out Nour Megahed and Tsz-Wing Tong respectively.
In the biggest ranking upset of the day, World No.143 Gomez defeated World No.75 Megahed in her first win at a Bronze-level event since 2022.
The match was evenly-matched throughout, but was plagued with injury breaks, with the Egyptian needing three stoppages over separate incidents.
The Spaniard came back from 0-1 and 1-2 down in the match to produce her upset victory, finishing her strong performance with an inch-perfect counter-drop on match ball.
Australia’s Cardwell produced her own big upset on the traditional court at the National Squash Complex, defeating World No.44 Tsz-Wing Tong in three games to claim her first win since August.
Cardwell was patient throughout, controlling play as Tong was forced make an uncharacteristic amount of errors which ultimately cost the Hong Kong player the match.
“I don’t have too many words, I’m a little bit in shock still,“ said a relieved Cardwell after the match.
“I am [looking forward to playing on the show court], just because it’s the glass court, it’s so fun to play on. Honestly I hadn’t thought about it. Not just because you should always be thinking one match at a time, but obviously I wasn’t seeded to win, and the way my last few events have gone, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot.
In the men’s draw, World No.60 Shahjahan Khan managed to overcome resurgent home favourite Mohammad Kamal to earn his place in the second round.
Kamal responded well to going behind at both 0-1 and 1-2, figuring out his opponent’s game plan and adapting his style to take the second and fourth games before pushing on to claim the fifth 11-7 after 79 minutes.
Elsewhere, Egypt’s Aly Hussein caused a 25-rank upset agaisnt World No.45 Henry Leung after a 78-minute exhausting battle, and World No.52 Marta Dominguez came back from 0-2 down against home favourite Sehveetrraa Kumar to reach the second round.
