Eain Yow Ng (Mas) 3-0 Patrick Rooney (Eng) 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 (42m)
Extremely fast pace between those two today. They seem to have the same style of squash – well, that’s what it looked from here – but today, Yowng was just better at it. More accurate with his targets at the back, pushing Pat at the back so much, and forcing a lot of errors out.
Yes, the Yorkshire boy still scored a lot of nice volley drop shots/drop shots long drop shots, but far too many errors overall, an average of 5 per game, against 2 for Yow.
Still, fast pace, VERY fast paced match, good sportsmanship, lovely intense squash, lots of attacking… good match…
It's @EaiNYow who secures the first upset of Day 1 as he takes out close friend and England No.2 Patrick Rooney 💪
His thoughts below ⬇️#OptasiaChamps pic.twitter.com/lO9tY6LWtl
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) March 21, 2023
“Patrick is ranked higher than me, so obviously he’s a huge threat. I know when I play my best, I can match the top 10 guys but today I knew how strong and dangerous Pat was.
“I held on to my gameplan from the first game onwards, stuck it tight to the walls, hit good straight lengths, and I am really happy with my performance.
“I don’t think too much about being a former World Junior Champion. If you look at the guys below me then, Victor is top seven or eight, Pat is top 20, Youssef Ibrahim has gone as high as 11. I don’t think I have achieved my full potential yet, but today’s performance is really encouraging. Moving forward, I believe I can beat anyone, so I am looking forward to tomorrow’s match.”
