Subramaniam’s London Classic: The Numbers

The underdog story of the season unfolded at the recent Gillen Markets London Squash Classic. Seventh seed Sivasangari Subramaniam earned herself the nickname “The Giant Killer” after defeating three top five players en route to lifting the inaugural Alexandra Palace trophy.

Squash data team Cross Court Analytics have delved deeper into this remarkable four-match run – which saw the 25 year old Malaysian take out Nour El Sherbini, Nele Gilis and Hania El Hammamy in back-to-back matches – to bring us the numbers behind Subramaniam’s maiden Gold event tournament success.

Round 2: Katie Malliff World No.38  
Result – 2-0: 11-6, 11-7 (21m)

Subramaniam began the competition in Round 2, facing England’s Katie Malliff for the second time in her career. Their only previous encounter saw Maliff clinch victory 3-2 at the Richmond Open in 2023. Though Malliff initially held a 5-2 lead in Game 1, Subramaniam soon found her rhythm and secured a convincing 11-6 win. 

The key factors which would lead to her overall tournament victory were already evident in this first match. A recurring theme in Subramaniam’s performances was the consistent threat posed by her backhand. Half of Subramaniam’s winners against Malliff came from the mid-left zone of the court. She also set up 87.5% of her winners on this backhand – indicative of how lethal Subramaniam was at both creating and finishing backhand attacking combinations. 

Subramaniam’s defensive prowess was as crucial as her attacking game. Against Maliff, Subramaniam did not make a single Unforced Error on her backhand. The Malaysian showed great ability to lift the ball, alleviating pressure whilst securing both time and court position. In the second game, Subramaniam opted to slow the tempo frequently, with roughly one in five shots lifted. But despite this defensive skill, Subramaniam did not seek to extend the rallies: the average rally won by the Malaysian consisted of only nine shots (compared to 13 for Malliff), further showcasing her attacking tendencies when considered alongside the women’s tour average rally length of 12.

Quarter-final: Nour El Sherbini World No.1  
Result – 2-0: 11-9, 11-9 (24m)

In the quarterfinal, the roles of favourite and underdog were distinctly established. Subramaniam had yet to secure a single game against the current world Number 1, Nour El Sherbini, having suffered 0-3 losses in both previous encounters. But from the very first shots of the match, it became clear that it wouldn’t be an easy evening for the Egyptian. 

The match was incredibly fast-paced, with both players adopting an offensive approach. A staggering 24 out of 40 points concluded with an outright Winner, and although El Sherbini typically plays out shorter rallies than her rivals, this match and its frenetic pace reduced the average rally length to just 8 shots. Subramaniam wasted no time, seizing opportunities to conclude exchanges with outright winners (14 Winners in total), with the rallies she won averaged just 7 shots in length. It is worth noting that this was the second consecutive match, and not the last, where the Malaysian benefited from keeping rallies short and sharp.  

Unusually for the losing player, Nour El Sherbini held a significant lead in statistics typically indicative of a player controlling the rally. The Warrior Princess hit more shots from mid-court, volleyed the ball more often, played fewer shots from deep, and used fewer lifted shots – a comparison of selected statistics can be seen above. 

Without further context, you might assume that it was the Egyptian’s match to lose. However, by analysing aggregated statistics from all of Subramaniam’s matches examined by Cross Court Analytics, trends emerge in the Malaysian’s game. Subramaniam typically forgoes volleying opportunities, tends to use more lifted shots than her opponents, and is content to let the ball bounce off the back wall. In other words, Subramaniam’s natural game changed very little when playing El Sherbini.

In fact, El Sherbini is also a player who tends to volley less and play more often off the back wall than her opponent. It wasn’t Subramaniam, but rather El Sherbini, here, who was being made to play in an unusual way. The match marked the final stage of the tournament played in the best-of-three format, ending in a 2-0 victory (11-9, 11-9) for the Malaysian.

Semi-final: Nele Gilis World No.4 
Result – 3-2: 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9 (94m) 

In her third consecutive match against an opponent she had yet to defeat, Subramaniam faced Nele Gilis, who had previously bested her three times. Subramaniam entered the court showing no signs of timidity or intimidation from taking on a higher-ranked opponent, immediately seizing any opportunity to launch an attack.   

However, the path to victory for the Malaysian differed slightly from the previous two rounds. The contest certainly tested both players’ stamina – with an average of 16 shots per rally, four rallies exceeding 40 shots, and the longest exchange consisting of 54 shots. Clocking in at 94 minutes, this was Subramaniam’s longest match of the tournament, and a far cry from the blitz squash of the earlier rounds.

Unforced Error stats make for unhappy reading for Subramaniam: for every Unforced Error made by the Belgian (4 across the match), Subramaniam made a staggering 4.5 Unforced Errors (18 across the match). This time, the Malaysian’s backhand accuracy was far from perfect, with over 70% of those Unforced Errors hit from the left. With so many points conceded, and her usually impeccable backhand attacks faltering, other aspects of the Malaysian’s game would have to excel if she was in with a chance of reaching the final.

A testament to Subramaniam’s multifaceted game is the fact that she managed to score an impressive 48 Winning shots (her Outright Winners and Gilis’ Forced Errors), with over half of these coming from her forehand side. This was the only match during the tournament where Subramaniam’s forehand was (albeit slightly) the more effective attacking tool in her arsenal. 

In particular, Subramaniam found a weapon here in her forehand boast – mustering a full 6 Winners this way against Gilis – some of which are available to see in SQUASHTV’s player of the tournament round-up. Subramaniam’s natural flair for deception was also on full display against Gilis, artfully concealing her true intentions in both her approach to the ball and the racket swing. The Malaysian overturned a 5-8 final game deficit to advance to a Gold-level tournament for the first time.

Final: Hania El Hammamy World No.2 
Result – 3-2: 11-9, 5-11, 13-11, 12-14, 11-8 (81m) 

In a match deserving of an Ally Pally grand finale, Subramaniam played out another nail-biter, this time against current world number two, Hania El Hammamy. The Egyptian, who had defeated her fellow countrywoman and long-time rival Nouran Gohar in the semi-final, was the only player to have previously lost to Subramaniam before this tournament – although that was back in 2017, and “The Leopard” had won all three subsequent meetings. 

The match was evenly contested, as El Hammamy exhibited the same high pace and offensive aptitude that had distinguished Subramaniam from her previous opponents. As shown in the Winner and Error charts below, there was very little between the players in terms of numbers, both players hitting roughly 6 Winners and 3 Unforced Errors per game.

The even distribution of El Hammamy’s Winner locations is astonishing – a rarity that demonstrates her versatility as a player. In contrast, a notable aspect of Subramaniam’s performance was that over one-third of her winners came from the mid-left region, while 21.1% of all winners were scored in the front right corner – an area from which she had not won as many rallies up to this point in the tournament. Against El Sherbini, for example, Subramaniam did not score a single point from the front right part of the court – testament to her ability to win points in different ways against different opponents.    

Although Subramaniam scored more points on the backhand side of the court, it was El Hammamy who set up a larger proportion of her points using her backhand. The Egyptian also brought play back to the left side of the court much more readily than the Malaysian, targeting Subramaniam’s deep backhand on 55% of shots from deep right(above right). In fact, in all of Subramaniam’s matches in London, her opponent played more cross courts. This difference was most pronounced in the final: 35% vs 48% of all shots. 

El Hammamy achieved two things that had seemed beyond the reach of Subramaniam’s previous opponents. Firstly, she successfully countered the Malaysian’s lob serves on the backhand side – a serve that had caused problems for all her opponents, creating pressure from the very first shot of the rally. Secondly, El Hammamy’s winning rallies were, on average, shorter than those won by Subramaniam – although the difference was only one shot, with 11-shot rallies for Hania and 12-shot rallies for “The Giant Killer”.  

Subramaniam’s versatility was on full display in London: winning matches with short, sharp rallies, matches with lengthy exchanges, setting up and finishing rallies on her backhand, but also finding forehand boast winners when needed; taking the pace off with the skill of a reactive player, and using deception like the best proactive ones. A big statement from the Malaysian!

You can watch the replays and highlights of all of Subramaniam’s matches from the London Squash Classic in the SQUASHTV Replay and Highlights section.