Malaysia's Mohd Azlan Iskandar and England's Tania Bailey secured surprise places in the finals of the CIMB Malaysian Open after notable upsets in today's semi-finals in Kuala Lumpur.

Iskandar, the 2004 champion who is the 4-star PSA Tour event's fifth seed, made his breakthrough in the quarter-finals when he despatched England's No3 seed Adrian Grant - the defending champion - in straight games.

The Sarawak-born 25-year-old then pulled off one of his best wins in recent times when he beat second seed Lee Beachill. In a dramatic 64-minute clash which delighted the KL crowd, Iskandar fought back from two games down to beat his second English opponent in 24 hours 6-11, 2-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-9, 11-2 - thereby registering his first ever victory over the former world No1.

In his 15th Tour final, Iskandar will meet Stewart Boswell, the top-seeded Australian who has reached his 29th Tour final in KL without dropping a game.

The 28-year-old from Canberra defeated fellow Australia Cameron Pilley 11-9, 11-2, 11-7. Pilley, the sixth seed, produced a stunning quarter-final performance to upset local hero Ong Beng Hee - the fourth seed and two-times former champion - in four games.

In the women's WISPA World Tour Gold championship, England's fourth seed Tania Bailey stunned observers when she beat Australia's No2 seed Natalie Grinham in straight games.

Since winning a historic three Commonwealth Games gold medals in her home country last year, Grinham has become one of the most in-form players on the WISPA Tour - reaching nine Tour finals and defeating nemesis Nicol David in April's Seoul Open final to win her 11th crown.

But today belonged to Bailey - who scored one of the biggest scalps of her recent career by crushing the younger Grinham sister 9-2, 9-4, 9-0 in just 28 minutes.

The other semi-final nearly produced an even bigger upset when Rachael Grinham - the senior of the Toowoomba twosome - extended Malaysian star Nicol David to five games. David, the world number one going for a hat-trick of successive Malaysian Open titles, failed to score a singe point in the opening game.

But the country's most successful international sportswoman lifted her game to see off the Aussie challenge - beating third seed Grinham 0-9, 9-2, 9-5, 4-9, 9-4 in 72 minutes.

Men's semi-finals:
[1] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [6] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-9, 11-2, 11-7 (36m)
[5] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [2] Lee Beachill (ENG) 6-11, 2-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-9, 11-2 (64m)

Women's semi-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 0-9, 9-2, 9-5, 4-9, 9-4 (72m)
[4] Tania Bailey (ENG) bt [2] Natalie Grinham (AUS) 9-2, 9-4, 9-0 (28m)