KUALA LUMPUR: National champion Ivan Yuen set up a meeting with 2014 Asian Games squash individual gold medallist Abdullah Al Muzayen after reaching the semi-finals of the Malaysian Tour's sixth leg in Bukit Jalil on Wednesday.
The top seeded Ivan defeated national teammate Addeen Idrakie Bahtiar 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 in the quarter-finals at the National Squash Centre to become the only surviving Malaysian in the tournament.
Kuwait's Al Muzayen, gearing up for the defence of his gold medal at the Asian Games in Indonesia later this year, advanced with an 11-3, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6 win over Pakistan's Tayyab Aslam.
A win over Al Muzayen, who Ivan defeated in their last meeting in Qatar in 2015, would give the World No 59 a confidence boost ahead of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games next month.
Ivan entered the tournament on the back of five consecutive defeats on the PSA Tour since the Malaysian Open last October before ending the run by beating Iran's Alireza Shameli in Tuesday's first round.
Al Muzayen had to come through the qualifying rounds in Bukit Jalil due to his lowly world ranking of No 146, mostly as a result of inactivity on the PSA Tour.
Despite his rare international appearances, Al Muzayen remains a talented player as evidenced by his surprise success at the Asian Games in Incheon four years ago.
Ivan's Commonwealth Games squad teammate Sanjay Singh Chal exited in the quarter-finals after a 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-3 defeat to Hong Kong's Wong Chi Him.
No Malaysian reached the quarter-finals of the women's event with Commonwealth Games-bound Rachel Arnold suffering a surprise defeat.
The fourth seeded Rachel lost to World No 85 Ineta Mackevica of Latvia 13-11, 7-11, 11-3, 4-11, 11-8 in the first round on Tuesday for her seventh defeat to a lower-ranked player since winning the ninth leg of the Malaysian Tour in May last year.
World No 52 Rachel joined fellow Malaysians Aika Azman, Aira Azman, Ooi Kah Yan, Noor Aina Ampandi, Lai Wen Li and Noor Shadira in exiting in the opening round.