Sangari braces for another long stretch with Kennedy

It’s never easy: England’s Georgina Kennedy (right) retrieves a shot from S. Sivasangari during the Squash in the Land tournament in Cleveland in March. — PSA

PETALING JAYA: Clashes between national squash player S. Sivasangari and England’s Georgina Kennedy have rarely been straightforward, and their British Open third-round showdown is expected to be another hard-fought battle.

World No. 5 Sivasangari booked her spot in the third round after clawing her way back from a game down to win 10-12, 11-12, 11-8, 11-9 against world No. 30 Lucy Turmel of England in the second round in Birmingham yesterday.

Kennedy, ranked eighth, eased past Egypt’s Malak Khafagy to set up a British Open rematch with Sivasangari, four years after they had met at the prestigious tournament.

The English player currently has the upper hand against Sivasangari, having won four of their five previous encounters, with the last three coming consecutively.

But none of those matches were straightforward as Kennedy needed five games to get past Sivasangari.

The Malaysian’s only win over Kennedy came at the British Open in 2021, which also saw a long-winded five-game match in the opening round.

Sivasangari, who has already won the Australian Open and Grasshopper Cup this year, will be aiming to equal her best result at the diamond-level British Open by reaching the last eight.

The Kedah-born player reached the quarter-finals last year after defeating Japan’s Satomi Wata­nabe in the third round, before her hopes of going further were dashed by Egypt’s Amina Orfi.

Sivasangari is the only remaining Malaysian in the women’s camp after Aira Azman lost in the second round to Olivia Weaver of the United States, while Aifa Azman and Rachel Arnold bowed out in the opener.