Short and sweet
Sivasangari revels under different format for q-final ticket in London
PETALING JAYA: World No. 16 S. Sivasangari adjusted to the best-of-three format in quick fashion to outplay local favourite Katie Maliff to reach the quarter-finals of the London Classic on Thursday.
The Malaysian, who is more familiar with best of five format which is used at the majority of the tournaments worldwide, wasn’t crippled by the shorter version as she defeated world No. 39 Maliff 11-6, 11-7 in 21 minutes.
The victory also avenged Sivasangari’s defeat to the English player at the Richmond Open last year. She also had a helping hand from her mental trainer Jesse Engelbrecht, a former South Africa and Zimbabwe international, who currently runs his own academy in England, during the match.
“With the best-of-three format being so tough, you have to reset for every point. I think I did well today,” said Sivasangari.
“I had Jesse, my mental trainer here by my side to help me. I had to change the pace to break her down a bit. I came in with a gameplan and executed it well.
“Katie’s a really good player and I lost to her last time we played and that defeat had been in the back of my head. I tried not to think about that and I’m
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pleased to get through.
“The crowd is pretty intimidating when you’re playing a local. It’s nice to see a lot of people here. It’s a great venue and a nice court and I’m really happy to be here.”
London Classic is one of the selected tournaments that utilises the best-of-three format in the PSA world tour but the players are not deprived of their world ranking points gained in these events.
This is the third time Sivasangari has made it to the quarter-finals of a PSA event this year after the Florida Open and Gaynor Cup.
The Sungai Petani-born player had also done well in her last outing, the Squash in the Land event in Cleveland, where she reached the semi-finals three weeks ago.
However, the Malaysian will face an uphill task against seven-time world champion Nour Elsherbini in the last eight today.
Sivasangari has yet to win a set against the Egyptian world No. 1 but the former might be trying to take advantage of the shorter format to her advantage.
Men’s world No. 22 Ng Eain Yow, who cleared the first round on Wednesday, will be up against world No. 5 Gamal Karin Abdel Gawad of Egypt next.