S. Sivasangari lost to Egyptian Amina Orfi in the Malaysia Cup final in November.
PETALING JAYA: Costly mistakes proved to be too much for national squash player S. Sivasangari at the PSA Squash Tour Finals in Canada.
The world No. 8 couldn’t find her footing as she took her second defeat in the group stage after falling to world No. 14 Fayrouz Aboelkheir of Egypt on Tuesday.
Sivasangari had the upper hand but missing crucial points gave Aboelkheir the chance to catch up and win the match 10-11, 11-9, 11-7 at the Revival Film Studios in Toronto.
National coach Ajaz Azmat said Sivasangari could have gotten past Aboelkheir, but mistakes in the second and third allowed Aboelkheir to fight back.
"Sivasangari played well but made unforced errors during important points. She was leading in the second set but the mistakes affected her momentum," he said.
It was a surprise loss by the Malaysian as she had won both their previous meetings last year against Aboelkheir at the Singapore and Hong Kong Opens.
Aboelkheir said she was wary of Sivasangari, knowing that the Malaysian No. 1 can spring a surprise anytime.
"She (Sivasangari) is very dangerous, especially in a best-of-three match. You never know when it’s going to go your way but I’m glad to win against her," said Aboelkheir.
However, the hope remains that Sivasangari will win her final Group B stage fixture against No. 7 Satomi Watanabe of Japan.
Although the chances of making it to the semi-finals are slim, Sivasangari will need to win in straight sets against Watanabe and hope the other group fixture between Olivia Weaver and Aboelkheir ends in straight sets as well for Weaver.
Weaver sits top of the group with seven points, with Watanabe and Aboelkheir in second and third with four points each, while Sivasangari has one point as she won one set against Aboelkheir.
Meanwhile in Group A, world No. 1 Nouran Gohar of Egypt and world No. 10 Georgina Kennedy of England sealed their spots in the semi-finals with a match to spare.
Gohar defeated world No. 6 Tinne Gilis of Belgium 11-2, 11-4, while Kennedy took down world No. 9 Amanda Sobhy of the United States 11-4, 11-10.
