Brooklyn — Egypt’s Rowan el-Araby achieved her biggest tournament victory by beating Malaysia’s playing Sivasangsari Subramaniam in the final of the Carol Weymuller Squash Open.
The world No.8 from Alexandria won 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6 to claim her seventh PSA World Tour title in a high-quality match lasting 46 minutes against a hugely talented opponent who was the first College player to reach a Weymuller final at Heights Casino in Brooklyn.
The pair had met three times before on the PSA World Tour, with the young Malaysian having won their most recent two encounters, including at the Manchester Open in 2021.
The 21-year-old Egyptian started strongly, finding her rhythm early, and stopping Subramaniam from playing her fluent attacking game.
However, that turned around in the second, as the Malaysian fought back, with a better length to the back of the court, and pushing up in front of El-Araby to level the match at one game apiece.
The third game was the closest in the match, and after it was poised at 8-8, it was the Egyptian who was able to grind out the winning shots to hold a 2-1 lead in the match, and that would prove crucial going into the fourth, and ultimately, the final game of the contest.
Subramaniam held a lead through the midpoint of the court game, but once Elaraby started to find her length again, she became unstoppable.
The World No.8 won the fourth 11-6 to claim a 3-1 victory, and the first Bronze level title of her career.
“[I am] overwhelmed! I’m really happy actually. I have been training really hard to come this far. This is my biggest title so far,” Rowan explained.
“I think I stuck to the plan, concentrating on my length as Siva has great hands and is really tricky. So I had to make sure I didn’t give her the opportunity to attack.
“I think I lost concentration in the second game but I tried to remind myself to hit it hard and deep and it worked in the end.
“It’s amazing to be here and it feels like home. The crowd is amazing; I think they made a huge difference in the tournament,” explained Rowan.
“It’s definitely a tough loss,” said Sivasangari.
‘I felt there were patches that I could have done better.
“It’s more of keeping the consistency throughout the match, and I just didn’t have that, and it’s disappointing not to win.
“But there have been a lot of positives just reaching the final, and I have to keep my head up and continue to push on,” Sivasangari added.
