Subramaniam Downs El Hammamy To Win Epic Final
Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam completed a dream week at the GillenMarkets London Classic as the No.7 seed took down World No.2 Hania El Hammamy to lift the PSA World Tour Gold-level title.
Subramaniam, who has taken London by storm this week with shock wins over World No.1 Nour El Sherbini in the quarter-final and World No.4 Nele Gilis in the semi-final, played confidently in the first game.
The Malaysian repeated her aggressive attacking strategy that has served her well so far, with the World No.13 hitting frequent winners to take the opener 11-9.
El Hammamy, who made five errors in game one, cut that down to just one in the second and upped the aggression, taking the ball early to deny time to the Malaysian, with the World No.2 drawing level with an 11-5 win.
In a tight third game, which ebbed and flowed, Subramaniam earned three game balls at 10-7, but could not convert, with El Hammamy forcing a tie break.
El Hammamy then went game ball up at 11-10, but this time it was Subramaniam who saved it, with a vicious shot to the back pulling her back level.
The No.7 seed then earned another game ball and this time made no mistake, restoring her lead with a 13-11 win to go within one game of a first Gold title.
Subramaniam continued to attack ruthlessly in the fourth game, edging towards a famous title at 8-5 as mistakes began to flow from the exasperated El Hammamy.
In a thrilling conclusion, El Hammamy went for broke, throwing everything at her opponent.
Although the Egyptian was initially able to reduce the edict, she could not prevent the Malaysian’s devastating attacks, with Subramaniam going two championship balls up at 10-8.
Once again, though, El Hammamy showed incredible mental strength, saving both championship balls to force another tie break at 10-10.
Subramaniam earned a third championship ball at 11-10 but once more could not convert, clipping the tin to take the scores to 11-11.
Yet another championship ball came and went for Subramaniam and this time the Malaysian was punished, with El Hammamy somehow taking the match into a fifth game with an incredible 14-12 win.
Despite the morale-shaking loss of game four, Subramaniam came charging out in game five, never wavering from her positive gameplan as she opened up a huge 6-1 lead as she beat El Hammamy’s famous movement time and again.
This time, the Malaysian was in no mood for another comeback, and, despite a El Hammamy threatening yet another comeback in the middle of the game, the 25-year-old held on to win her first Gold title with an 11-8victory.
Result: [7] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt [2] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 3-2: 11-9, 5-11, 13-11, 12-14, 11-8 (81m)
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The next event on the PSA World Tour is the Bronze-level German Open 2024 – Presented by Sportwerk, which takes place in Hamburg, Germany between 03-07 April.