KUALA LUMPUR: S. Sivasangari came back from the brink of defeat to reach her maiden PSA Tour Diamond-level semi-final at the Egyptian Open on Tuesday.
The world No. 5 Malaysian bounced back from two games down to beat world No. 6 Fayrouz Aboelkheir 9-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 in 63 minutes.
It was Sivasangari's third win over the Egyptian in five meetings.
The breakthrough will see Sivasangari rise to a career-high world No. 4 in next week's rankings.
The 27-year-old, who qualified for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after retaining her Asian Games title recently, will face world No. 2 Hania El Hammamy of Egypt for a place in the final on Thursday.
Hania also had to dig deep against world No. 7 Satomi Watanabe of Japan before prevailing 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5 in 85 minutes.
The 26-year-old Egyptian has the upper hand in her head-to-head record against Sivasangari, having beaten the Malaysian 10 times in 12 meetings.
National coach Ajaz Azmat described Sivasangari's breakthrough at Diamond level as outstanding.
"Beating Fayrouz has definitely boosted Sivasangari's confidence ahead of the semi-final against Hania. Their matches have always been close, and I hope Sivasangari can beat Hania this time.
"Sivasangari will rise to world No. 4 next week. Olivia Weaver of the United States, who currently occupies that position, has not played in recent tournaments, allowing Sivasangari to leapfrog her in the rankings."
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd