KUALA LUMPUR: National No. 1 S. Sivasangari was stretched to the limit by Tesni Murphy of Wales before advancing into the third round of the Windy City Open in Chicago, United States, yesterday.
The World No. 16 Malaysian, who received a bye in the first round, saved two match balls in the fifth set before winning 11-2, 11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 14-12 in 66 minutes.
The Asian champion will face England's fifth seed Georgina Kennedy next.
Aira Azman gave Georgina a scare before losing in five sets 11-9, 11-8, 3-11, 2-11, 3-11 in the second round.
Sivasangari said: "I'm not so happy with the way I played, but thank God I won with match ball to match ball down as well.
"I started off strongly in the first game but I didn't follow up much in the second game as after that I just lost it. I'm happy how I managed to push through mentally.
"I told myself it's not over although I was two match balls down. I worked so hard and just tried to hang in there as Tesni is a very experienced player. You saw how she came back strongly. It was more of a mental game than physical game today.
"I played Georgina a few times but not in recent times and she had some good matches. I want to focus on myself and recover," said Sivasangari, who is the only Malaysian remaining in the tournament.
National No. 2 Rachel Arnold lost in the second round to top seed Nour El Sherbini of Egypt 10-12, 5-11, 10-12.
