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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia placed four finalists at the British Junior Open in Birmingham on Saturday as the national players look to end the tournament with a flourish.
S. Sivasangari, the national No 2, led the way by reaching the girls’ Under-19 final when the top seed defeated England’s Elise Lazarus 11-8, 11-3, 13-11 in the semi-finals to set up a meeting with Japan’s Satomi Watanabe.
Sisters Aifa and Aira Azman and K. Sehveetrraa also made the finals of their respective events to give Malaysia a chance of sweeping the four main girls’ categories.
Aifa, winner of the Under-13 and Under-15 events in 2014 and 2016 respectively, will bid for a hat-trick in the Under-17 final against American top seed Marina Stefanoni after beating Egypt’s Jana Shiha 11-7, 11-9, 11-8.
The surprise of the tournament has been Aira, who continued her giant-killing run in the Under-15 event by ousting joint-third seed Katie Maliff of England 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 13-11 after saving two match points in the last game.
“It was hard, I was 2-1 down and then levelled but in the last game I was 8-10 down but I kept trying to remain positive and managed to turn it around. It’s great to reach the final,” said Aira, who takes on second seed Sana Ibrahim of Egypt next.
Sehvetrraa will attempt to become the fourth Malaysian winner of the Under-13 event when she faces Fayrouz Abouelkheir of Egypt after an 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 upset of Egyptian second seed Malak Taha.
Whitney Wilson’s run in the Under-11 event, however, ended with an 11-3, 11-2, 11-1 defeat to top seed Amina Orfi of Egypt.
Amir Amirul Azhar’s comeback from two-games down fell short as the boys’ Under-15 second seed was beaten 12-10, 11-9, 5-11, 3-11, 11-8 by India’s Neel Joshi while M. Nickhileswar lost to Egypt’s Mohamed Zakaria 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 in the boys’ Under-11 semi-finals.
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