World No.5 Sivasangari Subramaniam has become the first Malaysian since 2012 to reach the title decider at the PSA Squash Tour Finals presented by TWG Global after she ended World Champion Amina Orfi\u2019s winning run with a superb display at Centquatre-Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orfi hadn\u2019t lost on the PSA Squash Tour since her match at the Grasshopper Cup with Sivasangari in April, racking up 12 successive wins and capturing the World Championship and British Open titles in that time to put her on the cusp of the World No.1 spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, on a scorching day in France\u2019s capital, Sivasangari came up with one of the performances of her career to date to halt the in-form 18-year-old and book her place in the final of the season-ending tournament for the first time. Sivasangari is the first Malaysian to do so since the legendary Nicol David in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Malaysian stormed out of the traps to take the first four points on offer. Orfi eventually came back to put the first game on the board, but Sivasangari continued to attack with venom in the second game, levelling up after winning a sudden death decider in the tiebreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orfi received a conduct warning for being late onto court prior to the third game and things didn\u2019t get much better for the Egyptian as the momentum stayed with Sivasangari, who pulled away to establish a 2-1 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sivasangari was in full flow in the fourth game too as she continued to dominate the forehand side, however Orfi was able to stick with her as the match went to yet another sudden death tiebreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once again, Sivasangari came up clutch as she put Orfi under pressure and the Egyptian hit the ball out of court as she aimed to lift the ball to the back, sending Sivasangari into the title decider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe\u2019s furious, determined and she doesn\u2019t give away anything,\u201d said Sivasangari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI tried to stay positive and as consistent as I can. A year ago it was up and down, there are still errors here and there, but I think I did well in crucial moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt means a lot, this is my second Squash Tour Finals and last year I lost all of my matches. After the British, I was disappointed with my performance and didn\u2019t feel like myself. I want to end the season on a good note, I\u2019m happy I beat Amina, but there is another match tomorrow and hopefully I can go all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sivasangari\u2019s final opponent will be World No.1 Hania El Hammamy, who defeated fellow Egyptian Fayrouz Aboelkheir by an 11-10, 11-8, 11-8 scoreline. El Hammamy is also guaranteed to end the season at World No.1 following Orfi\u2019s defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aboelkheir ended the title charge of eight-time World Champion Nour ElSherbini in the previous round and tested El Hammamy throughout, but the hot conditions \u2013 which saw temperatures surpass 30\u00b0C \u2013 seemed to affect her more as El Hammamy held firm to secure the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt took me a while to find my range and my corners,\u201d said 2020 champion El Hammamy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFayrouz likes to chop and change, and she doesn\u2019t play in a rhythm, and that made me a bit uncomfortable. It took some time to find my length. With Fayrouz, I wanted to take less risks and not open the court too much because she plays incredible shots out of nowhere. I had to close the court down and wait for my opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World No.1 Mostafa Asal pulled out his semi-final match with World No.3 Diego Elias, meaning the Peruvian will take on World No.2 Paul Coll in the men\u2019s final \u2013 ensuring a new name will be on the trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coll battled past World Junior Champion Mohamad Zakaria in his last four match, emerging the victor by an 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-1 scoreline. Coll and Elias reached the final in 2022 and 2023, respectively, each losing to Asal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt took a bit of time to get that high intensity and the focus wasn\u2019t quite there yesterday, but I was a lot more clinical with my short stuff today,\u201d said Coll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI lost a bit of patience in the third there, I saw the finishing line, which was a bit annoying, but I\u2019m very happy with the fourth. I was trying not to leave it too short when the ball was so hot because the ball bounces more, so I had to keep my racket speed up and get the cut on the ball. I was better at that today and I was very happy with the overall performance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s Semi-Finals: <\/strong>[4] Diego Elias (PER) bt [1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) w\/o; [2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [6] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-1 (69m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s Semi-Finals: <\/strong>[4] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt. [1] Amina Orfi (EGY)\u00a03-1: 8-11, 11-10, 11-8, 11-10 (74m); [2] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt. [6] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY)\u00a03-0: 11-10, 11-8, 11-8 (41m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" World No.5 Sivasangari Subramaniam has become the first Malaysian since 2012 to reach the title decider at the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,264],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-13995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","category-uncategorized-en","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t