Craig Marks WSA Century With Title Triumph
17 Nov 2014
New Zealand's Megan Craig had to overcome a trio of Malaysians en-route to winning the Malaysian Tour Squash Circuit No10, the WSA Tour 5 event at the Explore Fit Squash & Fitness Centre in Kota Bharu in the Malaysian state of Kelantan.
The 21-year-old from Blenheim reached her first WSA Tour final since becoming the New Zealand national champion for the first time in August when she beat No4 seed Zulhijjah Binti Azan.
Her opponent Rachel Arnold defeated higher-ranked fellow Malaysian Vanessa Raj in the other semi, also in straight games.
Third seed Arnold took the opening game in the final, but favourite Craig came bouncing back to take the next three to close out the match 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-3.
The final marked Craig's 100th match on the WSA World Tour - and the win took her title haul to six over the last three years.
Craig now moves onto Penang where she is the fourth seed in the WSA Penang Open.
1st round:
[6] Zoe Foo (MAS) bt Siti Nur Fadilah (MAS) 11-4, 11-3, 11-1
[7] Siti Munirah Jusoh (MAS) bt Nur Syazwani Atikah (MAS) 11-6, 11-7, 12-10
Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt [8] Noor Shadira (MAS) 12-10, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8
[5] Teh Min Jie (MAS) bt Nur Syazreen (MAS) 11-5, 11-4, 11-2
Quarter-finals:
[1] Megan Craig (NZL) bt [6] Zoe Foo (MAS) 11-2, 11-4, 11-3
[4] Zulhijjah Binti Azan (MAS) bt [7] Siti Munirah Jusoh (MAS) 12-10, 11-3, 11-2
[3] Rachel Arnold (MAS) bt Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 10-12, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10, 17-15
[2] Vanessa Raj (MAS) bt [5] Teh Min Jie (MAS) 11-6, 11-8, 11-4
Semi-finals:
[1] Megan Craig (NZL) bt [4] Zulhijjah Binti Azan (MAS) 11-7, 11-3, 11-9
[3] Rachel Arnold (MAS) bt [2] Vanessa Raj (MAS) 11-5, 11-4, 11-7
Final:
[1] Megan Craig (NZL) bt [3] Rachel Arnold (MAS) 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-3