KUALA LUMPUR: U. Thanusaa will be playing in her last British Junior Open (BJO) in Birmingham from Jan 3-7, and the squash player hopes to end it with a bang.
The joint ninth seed from Melaka, however, faces a daunting task as she is likely to meet second seed Caroline Fouts in the third round in the girls' Under-19. The American defeated Thanusaa in the third round of the World Junior Championships in Melbourne in July. Thanusaa won a team silver.
She should beat Malta's Lijana Sultana in the first round and Egyptian Lojayn Gohary next.
Thanusaa's best achievement in the BJO was fifth in the Under-13 in 2018.
Thanusaa, who skipped this year's BJO due to SPM exams in January, said: "I have been putting extra hours in training by playing many matches to improve for the BJO. I should not have problems in the first two rounds but I'm expected to face my nemesis, Caroline, in the third round.
"It will be a really tough match as I lost to her in straight sets in the WJC," said Thanusaa.
"This is my last BJO and I will go all out to beat her. I have set a target to finish top eight," said Thanusaa, who trains under former national player Nafiizwan Adnan.
Thanusaa played in six PSA tournaments this year, and reached two finals - the PSA Satellite Tournament in Seremban in June and Bondi Open in Sydney last month.
