WORLD NO. 16, Sivasangari Subramaniam from Malaysia, continued her thrilling run at the GillenMarkets London Squash Classic after coming from behind to upset Belgian world No. 4 Nele Gilis 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9 to reach the final at the Alexandra Palace.
The No. 7 seed, who stunned the squash world in the quarterfinals with a win over World No. 1 Nour El Sherbini, lost the first game to the Gilis but responded brilliantly, with her ultra-attacking gameplan giving her two match balls when leading 10-8 with the score in games at 2-1.
In an exciting fightback, Gilis saved both before going on to win the game 12-10 to force a fifth game.
This time, the Malaysian made no mistake, with the 25-year-old, who returned to the Tour last year after recovering from a life-threatening car crash in 2022, clinching a pulsating final game 11-9 to bring the 94-minute epic to a close.
“I win today, I take it as positively as I can from yesterday’s win and believe in myself. Gilis is a fighter, she keeps grinding, and she breaks people mentally in the way she picks her shots,” Sivasangari said after the match yesterday.
That win for Sivasangari makes her the first Malaysian to reach the final of a PSA World Tour Gold or higher event since Nicol David in 2015.
The world No. 7 added: “It’s been tough in the year-and-a-half since the accident, but I’ve had my family’s and coaches’ support, and my sponsors too, they kept believing in me, which made me believe in myself.
“There were times I doubted myself but I tried to push hard and take it a day at a time and the hard work is paying off.”
Sivasangari will take on Hania El Hammamy in the final after the World No. 2 beat long-term rival Nouran Gohar in a fiery all-Egyptian clash.
“The crowd is definitely hyping me up, they’re amazing. I’ve been watching them since Nele and Siva’s match and they were amazing,” Hania
“I was hoping to have that quality cheering during my match and they didn’t disappoint.” – PSA World Tour
