NAFIIZWAN Adnan edged closer to his first PSA Tour title of the year after reaching the Royal Lake Club Open final in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
National No 2 Nafiizwan will meet second seed Zahed Mohamed of Egypt in today's final after seeing off the challenge of compatriot Asyraf Azan.
Ranked 35th in the world, the top-seeded Nafiizwan needed just 36 minutes to register an 11-7, 11-7, 11-3 win over his former national teammate.
This is Nafiizwan’s third final in 2014 and he will be looking to go one better than the Blu Health and Rackets Club Open and Victorian Open tournaments where he lost in the title match.
“It was a good win and I knew I had to keep my focus right all through the match,” said Nafiizwan, 27, referring to Asyraf’s penchant for arguing over almost every point with the referee.
“He likes to get involved with the referees but I just leave it to them to deal with the situation.”
World No 45 Mohamed, runner-up at the World University Championship this year, will be seeking his third career PSA Tour title but first since 2012.
Mohamed, who defeated Pakistan’s Farhan Zaman 8-11, 11-2, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9 in a 63-minute battle yesterday, will meet Nafiizwan for the first time today in his third PSA final of 2014.
“I have never met Zahed before but I did have a hit with him once,” added Nafiizwan, who lost to Ong Beng Hee in last year's Royal Lake Club final. “He had a longer match than me today. I can’t say that I will definitely win but I will do my best to get my first title this year.” By Devinder Singh