KUALA LUMPUR: Women's national No 2 Rachel Arnold brought out her A game as she denied Aifa Azman a chance to extend her winning run by clinching the SRAM PSA 7 squash championships on Tuesday.
The world No 43 was at her composed best as she absorbed everything Aifa threw at her to come away with an 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9 win in the final at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil.
And she got off to a bright start by taking the first game 11-8.
However, world No 69 Aifa, who came into the final high on confidence after winning two straight titles – the SRAM PSA 5 and 6 last month – stormed back to take the second game.
Rachel was, however, in an inspired mood as she stepped it up a notch to seal the win after 40 minutes whilst inflicting a first defeat of the year on Aifa.
It is the 25-year-old's seventh Professional Squash Association (PSA) title and first since she claimed back-to-back titles at the Malaysian Open and SRFI Indian Tour in Chennai in 2019.
Aifa, on the other hand, will rue her missed opportunity as she suffered her first career final defeat, having won her 10 previous final appearances.
"She defeated me the last time we met, and she was in good form and really gave it a good fight," said Rachel.
"I'm just really relieved to win because the pressure was always on me and it was just too close at the end.
"But I was really focused today because I wanted to win, and I also wanted to end her streak as well.
"Overall, it has been a good tournament for me ahead of bigger events."
In the men's final, top seed Ivan Yuen claimed his third straight title by beating Addeen Idrakie 11-4, 12-10, 11-6.
It was a good result for the national No 2, who also won the SRAM PSA 5 and 6 events and will look forward to the Malaysian Open from Nov 23-27 with confidence.
