They say when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

UCSC's Marcus PHUA proved this cliche to be so true when he played scintillating squash to successfully defend the Petaling Jaya Open crown he first won last year.

In 2010, Marcus had then overcome Malaysia's highly rated Nafzahizam ADNAN  (popularly caled "Zam") during their semi-final. Many had then thought it was a one-off 'fluke' but Marcus proved this to be otherwise when in 2 other tournaments earlier this year, he overcame Zam in both by 3-0 and 3-2.

This year's PJ Open 2011 Final (Sep 22 -25) was another exciting encounter which saw the two finalists almost in lockstep throughout the 5 nail-biting sets which eventually saw Marcus deservedly triumph 14-12, 8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-9. The match lasted 1 hour 40 mins and according to Marcus, fitness was the differentiator. Our heartiest congratulations to Marcus!

In his earlier matches, Marcus had to fend off a surprisingly tenacious challenge in the first round from a determined Mark LOW, with Marcus coming back from 2 sets to 1 down before cruising home in the last 2 sets over a tired opponent. Marcus then made short work of Andrew CROSS in the 2nd round, winning in 3 quick straight sets. The 3rd round and first Semi-Final was expected to be a cracker as Marcus faced up to his recent SSRA Men's A Grade Individual conqueror, Vivian RHAMANAN. This was where the going was supposed to get tough. Viv had triumphed 3-0 in an unexpectedly lopsided Singapore event then and was expected to severely test the PJ Open defending champion. It was however, a bit of an anti-climax as Marcus overturned the Singapore result to exact sweet revenge with a 3-0 (5, 8, 6) straight sets win to set up a Final meeting with Zam. This was where the tough got going.

UCSC and Marcus PHUA Live & Breathe Squash!