“I was nervous when we played here last year, which was the only time I took a game off her, but I wasn’t nervous tonight,” said the 22-year-old Sobhy who currently trains under the guidance of former Men’s World No.1 Thierry Lincou.
Team USA’s 2015 triple-PanAm Games Gold medal winning hero Amanda Sobhy (ri) pulled off the biggest win of her career, and arguably one of the most significant triumphs in the history of US Squash, as she eliminated defending champion and World No.2 Raneem El Welily (le) 11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6 in the 2nd round of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions – taking place in her home city of New York.
“It’s definitely one of, if not the single, biggest wins of my career. She’s a phenomenal player, she won here last year and she’s been World No.1 but I felt relaxed and knew I had my coach, my friends and the crowd behind me so I was excited to go in there and do my best,” said Sobhy
“I’m a little shocked to be honest because the last three times we’ve played it has not gone well for me at all and to get the win today was way above what I expected. I knew I had nothing to lose against her and I couldn’t have done any worse than the last time we played in Hong Kong (when Sobhy lost 3-0 in 22 minutes) so I just went out there and tried to stick to the game plan. I had to go out of my comfort zone and mix up the pace to get her on the back foot and I’m very, very pleased that it paid off.
El Welily, who held the World No.1 mantle from September to December, was a hot favourite to retain the title she won in convincing fashion twelve months ago but it was Sobhy, playing without fear, who wrote her name into TOC folklore. After taking the opening game 11-5 she pressed on the front foot throughout the encounter, and despite dropping the second, looked every bit the genuine title contender her current career high ranking of No.8 suggests.
Further results – Women’s 2nd round (Top Half)
[6] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [14] Delia Arnold (MAS) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 (29m)
[8] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt Heba El Torky (EGY) 7-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-5 (41m)
[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [Q] Coline Aumard (FRA) 11-3, 8-11, 11-2, 12-10 (51m)
Draw – Women’s 2nd round (Bottom Half)
[4] Camille Serme (FRA) v [16] Emily Whitlock (ENG)
[7] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [Q] Mariam Metwally (EGY)
[5] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v [15] Joshna Chinappa (IND)
[2] Nicol David (MAS) v [9] Annie Au (HKG)
