Sivasangari powers on, Ainaa narrowly misses second round in Cairo

PETALING JAYA: It was mixed fortunes for squash players S. Sivasangari (pic) and Noor Ainaa Amani Ampandi in the World Championships when the former made it safely into the second round while the latter crashed out.

World No. 13 Sivasangari had an easy start when she swept aside Latvia’s Ineta Hopton 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 in her opening match in Cairo yesterday.

The 25-year-old, who is hoping to become the first Malaysian since the legendary Datuk Nicol David to reach the quarter-finals, will play either United States’ Caroline Fouts or Canada’s Nicole Bunyan today for a place in the third round.

National coach Ajaz Azmat was satisfied with Sivasangari’s performance.

“It was a good performance from Sivasangari in her match today (yesterday). Now, she needs to keep her focus for the next round,” said Ajaz.

Meanwhile, world No. 65 Ainaa gave world No. 46 Marie Stephen of France a run for her money before going down 12-10, 7-11, 10-12, 7-11.

The 22-year-old made a good start by winning a close first set but her tenacious opponent refused to give in and fought back to win the next three sets narrowly.

Despite the defeat, Ajaz praised Ainaa’s fighting spirit and believed that his charge was unlucky to lose.

“Ainaa should have won the match. She was working hard,” said Ajaz.

“She was unlucky to lose such a close match.”

There was good news though in the men’s event when world No. 18 Ng Eain Yow stormed into the second round after upstaging world No. 16 Frenchman Baptiste Masotti 11-9, 11-8, 11-5.

It was a good win for Eain Yow after losing in his past two meetings with Masotti.

The 26-year-old will play Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue next and has a good opportunity to make it into the third round.