BUKIT JALIL: Doyce Lee survived a scare before winning her maiden title in the WSF Satellite No. 3 Tournament today.
The joint ninth seed from Sabah faced a strong challenge from teammate Jessica Keng before prevailing 13-11, 11-3, 9-11, 5-11, 12-10 at the National Squash Centre.
Joint ninth seed Low Wa Sern also won his first Satellite title when he upset joint third seed Shota Yasunari of Japan 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9 in the men's final.
The 16-year-old Doyce said she started off well by winning the first two sets but lost her focus in the next two.
"It could be that I was nervous playing in my first ever final in a Satellite tournament. I was also rushing too finish the match. But it was not easy playing against Jessica as she is an experienced player who pushed me hard both in the front and back of the court," said Doyce, who won gold in the Asian Junior Team title in Chennai last month.
Jessica, 21, said she fought hard from two sets down to level the score 2-2. "In the fifth set, I levelled the score at 10-10 as I was trailing 2-7 but I fizzled out in the crucial moment."
The 17-year-old Wa Sern from Perak, who is ranked 543 in the world, said: "I played one of my best tournaments and I feel on top of the world to win my first PSA title.
"I created a few upsets in the tournament. And the final against the Japanese was really tough as he pushed me hard but I fought hard for every ball."