alaysian S. Sivasangari will be involved in a mouth-watering last 16 clash against world No. 2 Hania El Hammamy of Egypt at the World Championships in Cairo on Tuesday night. - PSA
PETALING JAYA: The explosive affair between top Malaysia women’s professional S. Sivasangari and world No. 3 Hania El Hammamy of Egypt will be the highlight at the World Championships last 16 stage in Cairo later on Tuesday night (May 14).
It will be the rematch of the London Classic at Alexandra’s Palace on April first where world No. 11 Sivasangari scripted her finest moment in her career by winning a five-set thriller to snatch her first Professsional Squash Association (PSA) gold level title.
The victory had further fuelled the duo’s rivalry where El Hammamy will aiming for revenge in front of her home crowd while an equally determined Sivasangari will want to ensure that she is on the right track to become an established top 10 player.
Their head-to-head record stands 4-2 in favour of El Hammamy but national head coach Ajaz Azmat said that the player who is able to handle the pressure well during the match will prevail.
“London Classic has definitely elevated Sivasangari’s performance by a notch while El Hammamy has been among the elite players for the past two years now. It will be a close affair in the last 16,” said Ajaz.
“I spoke to Sivasangari today and she said she felt positive and fantastic on court during a warm-up session and I believe El Hammamy would have said something along those lines also.
“They are hard-working players and are equally solid physically but the player who is mentally tougher and is able to handle the pressure well during crucial stages of the match will be the winner.
“However, Sivasangari has shown that she is able to take on the elite players and this battle promises to be a classic encounter.”
Meanwhile, men’s world No. 18 Ng Eain Yow also has an uphill task against an in-form world No. 2 Paul Coll of New Zealand in his last 16 clash tonight.
Eain Yow will not forget his five-set victory over Coll at the 2022 Singapore Open second round clash and will be trying to use his new-found confidence after having won the PSA bronze level German Open in Hamburg last month.
“Eain Yow is more matured now and his confidence level is high since winning the German Open. Coll is a tough player and has the edge but it will be a close fight,” added Ajaz.
“Consistency is another aspect Eain Yow has improved and he is not going to allow Coll to have it easy this time.”
