Women's World's Round 1 Report by Sean Reuthe
photo PSA
October 24, 2019
- Malaysia’s World No.48 Sivasangari Subramaniam caused the biggest
upset on day one of the 2019-20 CIB PSA Women’s World Championship as
she shocked United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy at Cairo’s Shooting Club
6th of October to claim her first ever win over a top 10 player.
The 20-year-old from Sungai Petani Kedah put in some noteworthy
performances at the U.S. Open earlier this month – beating England’s
Alison Waters and testing World No.7 Sarah-Jane Perry – but she
outlined her credentials as one to watch in the future with an 9-11,
11-9, 6-11, 12-10, 11-6 triumph over Sobhy in 51 minutes.
Sobhy, whose father hails from Egypt, struggled from the beginning of
the match and didn’t seem her usual self on court, but the World No.8
fought on to go 2-1 up and 6-1 up in the fourth. But her energy levels
dropped and she finally succumbed to fatigue as Subramaniam put her
through her paces to come back and win the tie-break, before finally
getting the better of Sobhy in the decider to reach round two for the
first time.
“It definitely means a lot to me getting the big win in my PSA career,” said Subramaniam afterwards.
“I’m really happy today and I gave it all I could. I was 6-1 down in
the fourth and then I just tried to push myself because I was doing too
many errors. I tried to hang in there and I ended up getting the win.
“I'm training under my coach, David Palmer, and he's really working on
my movement and squash tactics. I think it's working, I'm happy with
how I'm playing right now, so hopefully I can maintain and do better in
the next round.”
That means Subramaniam is one win away from appearing on the iconic
glass court in front of the stunning Great Pyramid of Giza – the only
remaining ancient wonder of the world – which will be used from
Saturday October 26 onwards. To get there, she must take on Dutchwoman
Milou van der Heijden, who came from a game behind to beat Egypt’s
Menna Nasser.
Elsewhere, defending champion Nour El Sherbini made her first
appearance of the season after shaking off a knee injury to beat
England’s Rachael Chadwick in straight games.
The World No.2 has missed out on appearing at the Oracle NetSuite Open
and FS Investments U.S. Open Squash Championships in recent weeks due
to the problem, but it took her just 25 minutes to overcome today’s
opponent as she began her attempts to win the prestigious trophy for a
fourth time after winning in 2015 and 2016, in addition to the 2018-19
event.
“I really missed the tour and the matches,” said El Sherbini, who will
take on Canada’s Hollie Naughton in front of the Pyramids in round two.
“I was really excited about today’s match and I just wanted to get on
court and see how it goes, but it went really well. I was playing good
and I’m really happy to be back.
“In the first game [my knee] was in my head a little bit, but I was
running ok and it felt good. I didn’t have any problems and hopefully
it is going to be like this the whole week.
“I’m really looking forward to playing in front of the Pyramids and
this court is very special. You can play and see the Pyramids, so it is
very special and I’m really looking forward to playing my next round
there.”
World No.1 Raneem El Welily also began her attempts to win a second
World Championship title after easing to an 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 victory
over wildcard Sana Ibrahim.
El Welily became the first female squash player in history to win a
trophy in front of the Pyramids when she won the Al Ahram Open in 2016,
and will need to beat United States No.2 Olivia Blatchford Clyne in the
next round if she is to compete in front of the landmark again this
year.
“I'm looking forward to that [appearing in front of the Pyramids] but
I'm just here now thinking about what I just did and what I should be
doing to get to tomorrow's match and hopefully I get through,” said
Egypt’s El Welily afterwards.
England No.1 Perry was another of the players to book her place in the
last 32 as she overcame Jemyca Aribado, who became the first Filipino
squash player in history to appear at the PSA Women’s World
Championship.
Speaking after her 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 victory, Perry said that coming up
against new players from across the globe is part of the charm of the
World Championships.
“It’s amazing to see different countries coming into the sport and giving squash a go,” she said.
“It’s always interesting to play different players, it makes it a bit
different and that’s something that’s special about the World
Championships. There’s always that extra group of players that you’re
not necessarily that familiar with. Although I’d seen her name on the
Challenger Tour, I hadn’t actually seen her play before, which isn’t
common.”
Perry – who beat the likes of legendary Malaysian Nicol David and
France’s World No.4 Camille Serme during a breakthrough tournament last
time she appeared in front of the Pyramids – will play 2007 World
Champion Rachael Grinham in the last 32.
42-year-old Grinham is appearing in an unprecedented 300th PSA Tour event of her career.
Elsewhere, South Africa’s Alexandra Fuller reached round two of this
event for the first time after upsetting the higher-ranked Emily
Whitlock, while Malaysia’s Aifa Azman and Hong Kong’s Ho Tze-Lom also
caused upsets against Joey Chan and Mariam Metwally, respectively.
Round two begins on Friday October 25 at 12:45 (GMT+2), while the CIB
Egyptian Squash Open – a men’s PSA Platinum tournament – gets under way
tomorrow at the same venue, with play beginning at 12:00.
Draw – Second Round (Top Half): To Be Played October 25th
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [18] Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA)
[29] Julianne Courtice (ENG) v [11] Alison Waters (ENG)
[13] Salma Hany (EGY) v Alexandra Fuller (RSA)
[25] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) v [5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
[7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v [24] Rachael Grinham (AUS)
[31] Coline Aumard (FRA) v [9] Tesni Evans (WAL)
Aifa Azman (MAS) v [26] Tinne Gilis (BEL)
[17] Nele Gilis (EGY) v [4] Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Draw – Second Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played October 26th
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [21] Millie Tomlinson (ENG)
[32] Nada Abbas (EGY) v [15] Yathreb Adel (EGY)
[14] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v [27] Donna Lobban (AUS)
[30] Milou van der Heijden (NED) v Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)
[6] Joelle King (NZL) v [19] Zeina Mickawy (EGY)
[22] Nadine Shahin (EGY) v [10] Annie Au (HKG)
[12] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v Ho Tze-Lok (HKG)
[28] Hollie Naughton (CAN) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Draw – First Round: Men’s CIB Egyptian Squash Open – To Be Played October 25th
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) [Bye]
[9/16] Omar Mosaad (EGY) [Bye]
[17/32] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Vikram Malhotra (IND)
[17/32] Mazen Hesham (EGY) v Karim Ali Fathi (EGY)
[17/32] Max Lee (HKG) v Ivan Yuen (MAS)
[9/16] Daryl Selby (ENG) [Bye]
[17/32] Chris Simpson (ENG) v Edmon Lopez (ESP)
[6] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) [Bye]
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) [Bye]
[17/32] Lucas Serme (FRA) v Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY)
[9/16] Gregoire Marche (FRA) [Bye]
[17/32] Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP) v Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY)
[9/16] Saurav Ghosal (IND) [Bye]
[17/32] Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) v Mazen Gamal (EGY)
[9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY) [Bye]
[4] Simon Rosner (GER) [Bye]
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) [Bye]
[17/32] Greg Lobban (SCO) v Karim El Hammamy (EGY)
[17/32] Leo Au (HKG) v Ramit Tandon (IND)
[17/32] Adrian Waller (ENG) v Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)
[17/32] George Parker (ENG) v Nathan Lake (ENG)
[9/16] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) [Bye]
[17/32] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v Alan Clyne (SCO)
[7] Diego Elias (PER) [Bye]
[8] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) [Bye]
[17/32] Borja Golan (ESP) v Baptiste Masotti (FRA)
[17/32] Raphael Kandra (GER) v [WC] Moustafa El Sirty (EGY)
[17/32] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) v [WC] Yehia Elnawsany (EGY)
[17/32] Cesar Salazar (MEX) v Victor Crouin (FRA)
[9/16] Zahed Salem (EGY) [Bye]
[9/16] Joel Makin (WAL) [Bye]
[2] Tarek Momen (EGY) [Bye]
