NATIONAL squash ace S. Sivasangari stormed into the quarterfinals of the British Open for the first time following an impressive display against Satomi Watanabe.
Sivasangari, appearing in her fifth British Open, is into the last eight for the first time after downing Watanabe 3-1 in the penultimate match on Tuesday night at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, in Birmingham, England.
The Kedah-born player had never lost to Watanabe on the PSA Squash Tour, with their last meeting six years ago when Sivasangari overcame Watanabe to win the Australian Open.
The world No. 9 played at a high tempo to open up a comfortable 8-4 lead, only for Watanabe to pull herself back to 9-9. Sivasangari’s sharp attacking play was enough to help her edge the first 11-9.
Sivasangari repeated that scoreline in the second to double her match lead over the world No. 7, maintaining the high tempo she played at in the first. But four of her five game balls were saved by Watanabe.
The momentum shifted in Watanabe’s favour in the third, though, as the Japanese No. 1 dominated while errors were flowing from Sivasangari’s racket for Watanabe to halve the deficit.
Sivasangari found her groove again in the fourth, with her attacking squash paying dividends for a 5-1 advantage and, despite a flurry of points from Watanabe, Sivasangari held her off to march on to the last eight.
“It feels great reaching the quarter finals of the British Open,” she said.
“I think last year I got (current World Champion) Nour El Sherbini in the first round and that’s a pretty tough draw.
“Satomi has been playing really well recently and we’ve played each other since we were 10/11 in juniors, we’re the same age and she’s a good friend as well.
“Today with my performance I’m really happy and I tried to focus on my game and focus on reaching the quarterfinals and making it further.”
