Sivasangari Subramaniam, who beat reigning World Champion Amina Orfi twice last season will look to make it a hat-trick of wins in the semi-finals over her rival at the London Squash Classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Malaysian number one defeated Indain teenager Anahat Singh in the quarter-finals of the women’s competition. It was double joy for Malaysia as Ng Eaian Yow also booked his place in the semi-finals of the men’s competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sivasangari is something of a best of three specialist \u2013 as evidenced by her win here in 2024 \u2013 and she put Anahat to the sword in the last eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Indian starlet came into today\u2019s encounter full of confidence after upsetting No.4 seed Nele Gilis in round two, but today was all about the player from Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SIvasangari cruised to a 11-4, 11-4 win in 17-minutes. Her semi-final opponent Orfi gunned down Belgium’s Tinne Gilis 11-3, 12-10 in her quarter-final tie,” said Sivasangari, the champion here two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy with how I played today, Anahat is a very talented player. She\u2019s beaten some of the top players and challenged the majority of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI put extra intensity in my hitting towards the back corners. Anahat is very dangerous when she has time, so I tried to take that away from her. Obviously there are a lot of nerves coming into these matches with the best of three format, so I had to get my confidence and happy with how I dealt with things today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTowards the end of the season I was playing much better compared to the start of the season. It doesn\u2019t matter that I\u2019ve beaten Amina, tomorrow is going to be a new match and a new battle. I train for these matches and I want to beat these top players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe\u2019s the World Champion but I have my own goals. Tomorrow, I just want to play my best squash.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
England No.1 Georgina Kennedy booked her place in the semi-finals after upsetting No.4 seed Satomi Watanabe at the Alexandra Palace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
London-based Kennedy hadn\u2019t beaten Watanabe in their three previous meetings on the PSA Squash Tour but produced a fantastic performance in front of her home fans to complete a 12-10, 11-4 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve lost to her three times in a row and they\u2019ve been frustrating losses,\u201d said Kennedy afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019re playing [in practice] we\u2019re battling it out for over an hour, so it confused me a bit why I wasn\u2019t as good when I got into those PSA matches. It\u2019s a barrier I\u2019ve overcome today by taking the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a bit of a different mindset and I\u2019m understanding what\u2019s happening in the rallies better. When she went 10-7 up, I was aware I was playing really good squash and she did get a few lucky bounces. By remembering that instead of worrying that I was losing, I was able to decipher and understand what was happening. That allowed me to play my game and have a clear understanding of what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World No.1 Hania El Hammamy was tested hard in her quarter-final match with USA\u2019s Amanda Sobhy, eventually pulling through to win 13-11, 7-11, 11-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sobhy put El Hammamy under serious pressure, but the 2024 runner-up managed to find another gear in the third game to seal her spot in the last four, where she will play Kennedy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was definitely very tough for me, a best of three against Amanda is very hard mentally,\u201d El Hammamy said afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe was going for her shots and I think I lost my length a bit in the middle. She was really keen and hungry today and I could feel the vibes on court, so it made it extra tough. I\u2019m really happy I gained the momentum back in the third and found a way to get through it. I might have looked calm, but it wasn\u2019t how I felt inside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Eain Yow will compete in his first semi-final on the PSA Squash Tour since October 2025 after upsetting No.5 Youssef Soliman 11-6, 5-11, 11-3 in the men’s quarter-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He reached the last four of this tournament last year and will be looking to improve on that as he eyes a place in the top 10 this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t really thinking too much about what I was doing, I was just carrying in the momentum from my last match. I was 4-2 up in the second and then Youssef made me think about my own game, I made some sloppy shots but I managed to stay focused, calm and I was confident at the end of the match,” said Eain Yow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been finding myself a little bit again. It\u2019s been a relatively tough year for me in terms of my performance on court. I\u2019ve been seeing the ball better, reacting better, and Hadrian [Stiff] has been working with me for the last six months or so and that\u2019s helped me so much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defending champion Paul Coll advanced to the semi-finals against Eain Yow, after his opponent Mohamed ElShorbagy retired from their match in game two due to a glute issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The No.1 seed forced 35-year-old ElShorbagy into some brutal movements and the Englishman responded in kind to put on a show for his home crowd. However, he was forced off court at 8-2 down in the second game, bringing a premature end to the match for the former World Champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew he would come out at a hundred miles an hour, but I\u2019ve been working on something with Rob [Owen, Coll\u2019s coach] this week and it\u2019s relaxed everything,\u201d Coll said afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling really confident, actually. I\u2019m working on some simple things technically, but I love that. When he\u2019s playing like that with so many different angles and changes of pace, I can get a bit tense. I was really happy with how smooth I stayed throughout the game, I was very proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There will also be an home player in the men\u2019s event as England No.1 Marwan ElShorbagy won a thriller against Egypt\u2019s Kareem El Torkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Torkey played some creative shots and wowed the crowd with his speed and athleticism, but he was generally forced into doing that by the control that ElShorbagy exhibited on court today. The experienced 33-year-old kept his head as the business end of the match came around and his reward will be a mouthwatering semi-final battle with No.2 seed Victor Crouin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was very hard playing Kareem today and it was a different test to yesterday,\u201d ElShorbagy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to test myself against the younger generation, especially him because he has that energy that he wants to beat everyone. I like that, but it\u2019s always annoying to play against.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s Quarter-Finals: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [8] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) 2-0: 11-5, 8-2 ret. (29m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bt [5] Youssef Soliman (EGY) 2-1: 11-6, 5-11, 11-3 (56m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Kareem El Torkey (EGY) 2-1: 11-5, 7-11, 12-10 (41m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2] Victor Crouin (FRA) bt [7] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) 2-1: 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 (56m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s Quarter-Finals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [7] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 2-1: 13-11, 7-11, 11-6 (42m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n [5] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt [4] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 2-0: 12-10, 11-4 (25m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt Anahat Singh (IND) 2-0: 11-4, 11-4 (17m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2] Amina Orfi (EGY) bt [6] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 2-0: 11-3, 12-10 (33m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sivasangari Subramaniam, who beat reigning World Champion Amina Orfi twice last season will look to make it a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15438,"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],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-15437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","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