Kennedy Halts Teenager Singh's Run To Make Canadian Open Final

England No.1 Georgina Kennedy halted rising star Anahat Singh's dream run at the Canadian Women's Open after defeating the 17-year-old in straight games at Brookfield Place in Toronto to reach the final of the Silver-level event.

Singh, the world No.43, claimed two big victories on the way to the semi-finals after taking down world No.20 Melissa Alves and defending champion and world No.7 Tinne Gilis.

However, the showdown with Kennedy proved to be a step too far for the Indian youngster, as the world No.10 did an excellent job of nullifying Singh to win 11-5, 11-8, 12-10 in 30 minutes to earn her spot in the title decider.

"She's had a great tournament this week and I said to my coach back home that she's such a natural squash player, you can't coach that deceptive swing that she has and how she moves the ball around. She was maybe a little tired from the week which is to be expected," said Kennedy.

"But I felt in control of that match throughout it all, but I'm not happy with how I ended it. I tried to end it too early and nearly got found out but I'm just glad I could get through.

"I was trying to rush her as much as possible, I didn't want to give her time on the ball and time for her to use her deceptive swing so I just tried to hurry her and I felt like my short stuff was working well In the beginning but maybe I did a little too much at the end.

"I don't think me and Amina have played for over a year or so now so I'm actually really excited to play her. She's obviously in great form, it's so impressive what she's been doing recently. I think last season I wasn't making my seeding as often so I haven't played the top girls for a while, so I'm really looking forward to that tomorrow."

World No.3 Amina Orfi, the top seed, produced a clinical performance to see off 2023 champion Amanda Sobhy in straight games in the other semi.

Orfi, who came into this event having played in the final of the US Open 24 hours prior to her first match in Toronto, claimed her first win over Sobhy on the PSA Squash Tour in the process having lost the previous three meetings with the world No.9.

Orfi, who battled back from 9-3 down in the first game, was ruthless in attack as she ran out with a 11-9, 11-2, 11-9 victory.

"I started playing against her when she was the world No.3 and she beat me three times in a row," said the young Egyptian.

"We played in Qatar, the US Open and in Hong Kong so it was a lot but things are different now and I've got a lot more experience.

"It comes naturally to me [talking about her mental resilience], we play a lot of matches in Egypt, matches in league, in training and in juniors so we play a lot. I just got used to it and I've been playing now for two weeks consecutively so there's no time to really think about it."

In the Toronto Athletic Club Open, a men's Copper-level event which is also being held at Brookfield Place, defending champion and top seed Leonel Cardenas recovered from 1/0 down to defeat Moustafa ElSirty. The Mexican will take on the tournament's No.2 seed Yahya Elnawasany after he saw off England giantkiller Sam Todd by the same scoreline.