Sivasangari and Wee Wern to battle it out in the last four

KUALA LUMPUR: Third seed S. Sivasangari is bracing for a backlash when she faces Low Wee Wern (pic) in the women’s semi-final at the Malaysian Open Squash Championships.

Sivasangari and Wee Wern’s mouth-watering clash is a replay of the recent National Championships final. Then, the two played a five-game thriller which ended in Sivasangari getting the better of Wee Wern for her maiden national title.

Yesterday, Sivasangari and Wee Wern marched into the women’s semi-finals in contrasting fashion in the premier local tournament at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil.

The 19-year-old promising star Sivasangari showed her quality and made it look easy as she dismissed Hong Kong's Lee Ka Yi in straight sets 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 yesterday.

But Wee Wern, 27, shrugged off an early setback to overcome another Hong Kong player Liu Tsz Ling for a 10-12, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2 win.

Sivasangari, who did not have to play the qualifying round unlike Wee Wern, said her opponent would be out to even the score after the defeat last week but she would be ready.

“Wee Wern came through the qualifying rounds and played two tough matches, but I’m sure she is fit and fired up for tomorrow’s match after losing to me at the national meet,” said Sivasangari.

“But I’m just going to be well prepared, give what I can and may the better player win.”

The former world No. 5 Wee Wern playing in only her second tournament after returning from her knee injury that saw her sidelined for 20 months was happy to come through a tough ordeal.

“It was quite close, I had a bit of a lead in the first game but I had some decisions that went against me and I was unlucky to lose the first game,” said Wee Wern.

“I was not very comfortable on court in the second set and the first few points were fairly close, but I managed to pull ahead and went on to win the set.”

Glad that her knee is no longer a major issue, Wee Wern is looking forward to playing Sivasangari.

“It would be good for me to play her so that I can get an idea of where my game stands right now,” said Wee Wern.

“I’m definitely far from my best after being out for 20 months and I can’t expect to be playing at my best after two tournaments.”

The other semi-final will see fourth seed Satomi Watanabe from Japan taking on tournament favourite and top seed Omneya Abdel Kawy of Egypt.

In the men’s competition, Malaysia suffered double blows when both Nafiizwan Adnan and Ng Eain Yow crashed out.

Nafiizwan’s run came to an end at the hands of Hong Kong’s Leo Au at 3-11, 10-12, 11-4, 8-11 as he appeared to be tired towards the end.

“I was drained after a tough match against Ivan (Yuen) in first round but it’s not an excuse for my defeat. Leo Au played well,” said Nafiizwan.

“I learnt the need to recover from games, get enough sleep, to control my emotions and to relax myself. I’ll take all these into account as I prepare for the Asian Games next.”

National No. 2 Eain Yow lost 4-11, 7-11, 11-8, 10-12 to Lucas Serme of France.