PETALING JAYA: Ng Eain Yow’s hard work during the summer break is paying off after the national squash player entered his first London Classic semi-finals on Friday.
World No. 12 Eain Yow put on a show at the Alexandra Palace to hand world No. 5 Marwan ElShorbagy of England an upset in the quarter-finals, winning 11-9, 11-9 in 36 minutes.
The result was a head-turner as Eain Yow, 27, had not won against the England No. 1 in their previous four meetings, having lost twice this year at the New Zealand Open in March and the Squash on Fire Open in Washington in April.
“I’ve played him (Marwan) twice this year and I didn’t manage to get a game,” said Eain Yow. “I was looking at getting one game in and then seeing how things go. I’ve put in so much work over the summer and I just had to execute it.
“I was down in both games, but I believed in myself and knew I could push through.”
Last year, Eain Yow’s run in London ended in the second round at the hands of Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad.
Eain Yow will meet reigning champion Paul Coll of New Zealand in the semis, and he knows it won’t be an easy affair.
“Coll and I had a close one in the last round, but we both had good matches in the quarters.
“He will be a tough competitor. He had a tough end to last season but came back strong,” said Eain Yow.
Meanwhile, world No. 8 women’s player S. Sivasangari maintained her path to defending her title in London after booking her spot in the semis by defeating England’s Jasmine Hutton 11-9, 11-5.
In their first-time meeting on Tour, Sivasangari praised Hutton for her performance, adding that her own game has been on the rise as well.
“She’s (Hutton) improved a lot and she’s a very dangerous player,” said Sivasangari.
“I stuck to my game plan well and stayed as focused as I could until the end.
“I was a bit unsettled in my previous match, but I was prepared this time and understood how the court works a bit more.”
The defending champion will face second seed and 18-year-old Amina Orfi of Egypt in the semis, an opponent she has lost the last three matches to.
“Amina is still young but she’s up there. She’s amongst the best players now, and it’s going to be a tough battle,” she said.
A shock that came in the women’s category was the withdrawal of top seed Olivia Weaver due to injury, which gave the win to eighth seed Nele Gilis of Belgium.
QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS
Men: Ng Eain Yow (Mas) bt Marwan ElShorbagy (Eng) 11-9, 11-9, Paul Coll (Nzl) bt Youssef Soliman (Egy) 11-2, 114, Diego Elias (Per) bt Youssef Ibrahim (Egy) 13-11, 11-5, Joel Makin (Wal) bt Mohamed ElShorbagy (Eng) 11-7, 5-11, 11-8.
Women: S. Sivasangari (Mas) bt Jasmine Hutton (Eng) 11-9, 11-5, Amina Orfi (Egy) bt Georgina Adderley (Sco) 11-4, 11-5, Satomi Watanabe (Jpn) bt Tesni Murphy (Wal) 6-11, 11-8, 11-5, Nele Gilis (Bel) bt Olivia Weaver (Usa) 11-0, 11-0.
