Malaysia’s squash ace S.Sivasangari and rising star Aira Azman have stormed into quarter finals of the Qatar Classic 2025 yesterday.
Sivasangari sealed her spot after an impressive straight game victory over Belgium’s Nele Gillis, defeating her 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 in just 34 minutes at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
Sivasangari will next take on world No. 2 Hania El Hammamy of Egypt, a formidable opponent who has beaten her five times in their seven previous encounters.
Meanwhile, three-time national champion Aira Azman continued her impressive run to book a place in the quarter-finals. The world No. 26, who stunned Japan’s world No. 6 Satomi Watanabe in the opening round, battled past Egypt’s world No. 28 Zeina Mickawy with a score of 11-8, 11-7, 13-11. Aira now faces another tough challenge against world No. 5 Amina Orfi of Egypt in the last eight.
National coach Ajaz Azmat praised Aira’s performance, noting that she showed remarkable composure by rallying from 8-10 down in the third game to clinch it 13-11.
