KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 — Low Wee Wern and S. Sivasangari are on a collision course at the Malaysian Open Squash Championships 2018 after clearing their first-round matches with ease. They’re both in the bottom half of the draw.
Wee Wern, returning after 20 months out to rehab a troubled knee, had to play two qualifying matches to make the main draw. She beat Anne Serme 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 then Sarvenaz Komasi 11-4, 11-4, 11-0 in the qualifiers before beating eight seed Tong Tsz-Wing 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 in the first round.
She said she is feeling better as the days go by.
“My confidence never waned despite losing a narrow five-setter against Sangari at the nationals last week. I feel my decision making and confidence growing exponentially now that I have more matches under my belt,” said Wee Wern whose rankings plummeted to 254 in the world.
“Tong is an active top 50 player so beating her is a good start for me. I still don’t feel as comfortable on court but that familiarity and comfort levels are gradually coming back.
“I’ve lost my rhythm and am dull when it comes to making those quick decisions on court. However, I’m getting better gradually and one of my goals is to stay injury-free for as long as I can.
“Also, I need to get my rankings as high as possible to get into more tournaments in the future,” added the 27-year-old who meets second seed Liu Tsz-Ling at noon tomorrow.
Sangari made quick work of Sunayna Kuruvilla of India 11-5, 11-6, 11-9 in 23 minutes and faces Lee Ka Yi of Hong Kong at 12.45pm tomorrow.
“The first match is always hard so a quick three-setter is good for confidence. I was a bit sluggish in the beginning as there’s more pressure playing in a PSA Tour event, especially at home,” said Sangari.
“There was definitely more pressure during the national finals last week, but I try not to put too much expectations on myself. I just play my game and focus on each match.
“I’ve not played Ka Yi before. I’ll do my best and hope things go my way tomorrow.”
In other, matches Rachel Arnold lost to Alexandra Fuller 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-2. Nazihah Hanis lost to Satomi Watanabe 11-4, 11-7, 11-4.
