Watanabe Marks PSA Squash Tour Finals Japanese First

World No.7 Satomi Watanabe has become the first Japanese player in history to reach the last four of the SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals after coming from behind to beat Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam in the final pool rounds at Revival Film Studios in Toronto.

Watanabe beat world No.8 Sivasangari 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 to finish second in Group B on seven points, three behind group winner Olivia Weaver.

Weaver, the world No.4, overturned a 1/0 deficit to beat Egypt's Fayrouz Aboelkheir in her match to make it three wins from three. Weaver will take on England's Georgina Kennedy in the semi-finals, while Watanabe will play world No.1 Nouran Gohar.

"All credit to her, she showed herself on court until the end, but it's really hard to keep the motivation once you know you might not have a chance [to qualify]," said Watanabe afterwards.

"I'm just really happy with the way she turned up in the last game, but I knew the second game was really crucial. I was 6-3 down, so I'm very happy to turn it around.

"I'll watch the next match, no matter the result they are both great players and there is a lot to learn from both of them. That's how I gain my knowledge of playing squash."

Gohar beat Kennedy to top Group A, while Belgium's Tinne Gilis got her first ever win at this competition to finish in third ahead of world No.9 Amanda Sobhy.

In the men's event, Welshman Joel Makin took the final qualification spot for the semi-finals after beating fellow Briton Marwan ElShorbagy 11-9, 11-4 to reach the last four for the first time since 2020.

"When we play I really enjoy the dynamic," said Makin.

"He's clever, he's sneaky, he's quick at the last minute and he's tricky. It was a nice free-flowing match, good squash that was played in the right way. It's unusual to lose yesterday and then have another go today, so it's another thing mentally you've got to deal with.

"I'm bored of saying that I'm not happy with my squash. I think there have been about three matches in my life that I'm happy with, but it's not been the best week."

Makin joins world No.1 Mostafa Asal in qualifying from Group A, with Asal seeing off fellow Egyptian Youssef Soliman to finish in top spot. Asal will play 2019 winner Karim Gawad for a place in the final, while world No.2 Diego Elias will be Makin's opponent.

Elias and Gawad had already qualified before today and they both had a rest day after their Group B opponents Paul Coll and Mohamed ElShorbagy had earlier withdrawn through injury.