KUALA LUMPUR: Fourth seed S. Sivasangari reached the semi-finals of the Squash In The Land Open in Cleveland, United States, yesterday after beating England's Alicia Mead 11-6, 11-8, 11-8.
The Malaysian World No. 16 will face world No. 6 and top seed Goergina Kennedy of England next. Last month, Sivasangari lost to Kennedy in five sets in the third round of the Windy City Open in Chicago.
"I think with this match we both warmed up five to six times because the match before took forever but I came in wanting to get a positive start. And I'm glad I did well and I'm happy to have won the third," Sivasangari told PSA World Tour.
In the men's competition, Malaysia's world No. 19 and top seed Ng Eain Yow was upset by Mexico's sixth seed Leonel Cardenas 7-11, 8-11, 13-12, 12-10, 6-11 in a gruelling 92 minutes match.
National chief coach Ajaz Azmat said: "Eain Yow needs to buck up and play more aggressively when facing lower-ranked players.
"He lost the first two sets and was trailing 10-6 in the third and fourth sets before fighting back to win both the sets. But he couldn't get the better of the Mexican player in the fifth set."
Meanwhile, Malaysia's world No. 130 Darren Pragasam, who won the Lexden RFC Open in England on March 3, upset second seed Ivan Perez of Spain 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6 to reach the Odense Open semi-finals in Denmark.
Darren, who beat Lwamba Chileshe of New Zealand 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 in the second round, will face England's seventh seed Declan James next.