PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is guaranteed of at least one semi-finalist at the Australian Open after the country’s top two women’s players, S. Sivasangari and Aira Azman, set up an all-Malaysian quarter-final today.
Sivasangari, the tournament’s top seed, eased past England’s Grace Gear 11-4, 11-3, 11-7 in just 24 minutes in the second round yesterday.
Aira faced a tougher challenge against Hong Kong’s Tomato Ho but eventually prevailed 11-4, 12-10, 8-11, 5-11, 11-6 in 44 minutes to secure her spot in the last eight.
Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) technical director Andrew Cross said he was excited about the match, as both players are in top form.
An all-Malaysian quarter-final is a boost for the team, no matter who comes out on top.
Last year, Malaysia had no representatives in the semi-finals as Sivasangari fell in the quarter-finals to Rowan Elaraby, while Aifa was defeated by Tinne Gilis.
For the record, Aira has yet to beat Sivasangari in three previous meetings, including at the El Gouna Open in Egypt last April.
“It’s great to have two of them in the quarters, guarantees us a semi-finalist. Good win for Aira yesterday; she gritted her teeth when she needed to. Sivasangari was great today, looking sharp,” said Cross when contacted.
Meanwhile, Aifa also repeated her achievement from last year by reaching the quarter-finals after defeating France’s Marie Stephan 11-9, 11-9, 11-4 in 31 minutes.
Like deja vu, Aifa faces another tough challenge in the quarters – fourth seed Nele Gilis, sister of Tinne Gilis.
This also serves as a rematch of last week’s New Zealand quarter-final, which went in Gilis’ favour.
“Aifa was good yesterday and it’s a nice rematch from last week, but the court is a lot different from last week,” added Cross.
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