Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam took out No.7 seed Satomi Watanabe of Japan to reach the quarter-finals of the GillenMarkets British Open for the first time in a fast-paced encounter at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
Among the players joining the Malaysian in the next round are home favourite Joel Makin of Wales, and World No.1s Nouran Gohar and Mostafa Asal of Egypt.
The GillenMarkets British Open, the oldest and most established tournament on the PSA Squash Tour calendar, is taking place at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre (June 01-08) and Solihull Arden Club (May 31-02 June) as 96 of the world’s best squash players battle it out for the Diamond-level title.
Despite her lower ranking, World No.9 Sivasangari went into the match with an excellent record against World No.7 Watanabe, with the Malaysian winning all five of their previous matches on the PSA Squash Tour as well as defeating the Japan No.1 in the semi-finals of the 2022 Asian Games.
Sivasangari made a rapid start to today’s match, executing her attacks perfectly to race into a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of 11-9 victories.
Watanabe hit back with an 11-4 win in game three, only to be undone by a resurgent Sivasangari in game four, with the 26-year-old clinching a quarter-final match against No.4 seed Amina Orfi with a comfortable 11-4 win.
Afterwards, Sivasangari said: “It feels great to reach the quarter-final. Last year, I got [current World Champion] Nour El Sherbini in the first round and that’s a pretty tough draw. Satomi has been playing really well recently and we’ve played each other since we were 10-11 years old in juniors and she’s a good friend as well.”
Facing the Malaysian in the quarter-final is 17-year-old rising squash star Orfi, after the Egyptian avenged a painful defeat to Nada Abbas at this year’s PSA World Championships with a convincing 3-0 win over her compatriot today.
For the home fans, there was a win for World No.4 and British No.1 Joel Makin of Wales and a defeat for English wildcard Saran Nghiem, with long-term Birmingham resident Makin delivering a 3-0 win over Dimitri Steinmann of Switzerland while Nghiem lost out to Belgian World No.6 Tinne Gilis.
Elsewhere, defending champions Nouran Gohar and Mostafa Asal crushed their Round Three opponents, with Gohar delivering a 24-minute win over USA’s Marina Stefanoni and Asal getting the better of Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez in 27 minutes.
Also through to the next round are Youssef Ibrahim and Victor Crouin, with Ibrahim defeating Egyptian compatriot and “younger brother” Kareem El Torkey and Crouin overcoming French compatriot Baptiste Masotti.
Results: GillenMarkets British Open Women’s Round Three (Top Half)
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt Marina Stefanoni (USA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (24m)
[5] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt Saran Nghiem (ENG) 3-0: 11-1, 11-9, 12-10 (29m)
[4] Amina Orfi (EGY) bt [9/16] Nada Abbas (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-8 (36m)
[9/16] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt [7] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 3-1: 11-9, 11-9, 4-11, 11-4 (45m)
Results: GillenMarkets British Open Men’s Round Three (Top Half)
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (27m)
[9/16] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) bt Kareem El Torkey (EGY): 3-1 Scores: 12-14, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (56m)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [9/16] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 (55m)
[9/16] Victor Crouin (FRA) bt Baptiste Masotti (FRA) 3-0: 11-4, 13-11, 11-8 (56m)