Sivasangari cruises into maiden British Open quarter-finals
KUALA LUMPUR: S. Sivasangari marched into the quarter finals of the British Open for the first time following an impressive display against Japan's Satomi Watanabe in Birmingham on Tuesday.
World No. 9 Sivasangari, appearing in her fifth British Open, defeated world No. 7 Satomi 11-9, 11-9, 4-11, 11-4 in 45 minutes.
The 26-year-old Malaysian had never lost to Watanabe in all six previous meetings on the PSA Tour as well as defeating the Japan No.1 in the semi-finals of the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.
"It feels great reaching the quarter finals of the British Open," Sivasangari told PSA Squash Tour.
"I think last year I got eight-time world champion Nour El Sherbini in the first round, and that was a pretty tough draw.
"Satomi has been playing really well recently, and we've played each other since we were in juniors, we're the same age, and she's a good friend as well.
""Today, I'm really happy with my performance. I focused on my game and on making it further in Platinum events."
Facing the Malaysian, who won the Cincinnati Open in February, in the quarter-final is No.4 seed Amina Orfi, after the Egyptian avenged a painful defeat to Nada Abbas at this year's World Championships with a convincing 11-4, 11-4, 11-8 win over her compatriot.
Amina beat Sivasangari in the Malaysia Cup final and Singapore Open semi-finals last November.
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