KUALA LUMPUR: S. Sivasangari celebrated her significant climb in the PSA Tour world rankings by reaching the third round of the Hong Kong Open today. Sivasangari, who rose five spots to world No. 17 today, recorded an 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 victory over Egypt's Hana Ramadan at the Hong Kong Sports Centre.
The Kedah-born will take on Canada's Hollie Naughton tomorrow.Sivasangari said: "I feel really good with my latest ranking. My goal was to break into the top 20 by the end of this year.
"So I'm happy that I did that. But this is just the start. I want to push even more to win titles and improve my ranking further," she said.Compatriot Aifa Azman also advanced to the third round when she defeated Egypt's Nadine Shahin 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 in 20 minutes.
She plays Egypt's eight seed Rowan Elaraby next.However, three other Malaysian players crashed out in the second round today.
National champion Aira Azman lost to top seed Nour El Sherbini of Egypt 12-10, 11-7, 11-4, while national No. 2 Rachel Arnold was no match for United States' Amanda Sobhy, losing 11-3, 11-2, 11-0.In the men's competition, Asian champion Ng Eain Yow lost 11-4, 14-12, 11-8 to Egypt's Mazen Hesham.