El Tayeb Beats Amanda Sobhy in $110K South Western Open Final by Connor Sheen October 1, 2023
- Top seed and World No.8 Nour El Tayeb claimed the 14th title of her
career in Houston today as she defeated USA No.1 Amanda Sobhy in four
games to lift the South Western Open 2023 Presented by Cotidié trophy.
El Tayeb was a beaten finalist in the 2022 event, losing out to World
No.2 Nouran Gohar. She looked as determined as ever to go one step
further this year as she looked to make a move back towards the world's
top five.
Sobhy has enjoyed a strong start to the season with two semi-final
appearances in Platinum events so far. She started the final in similar
fashion as she moved forward on the ’T’ and narrowed the angles that El
Tayeb was craving. After several long and entertaining rallies, Sobhy
earned the first game ball at 10-9 and took it at the first time of
asking to lead 1-0.
The talented Egyptian started to find her length in the second game and
moved back in front of the American and wad therefore able to display
her attacking qualities to heap the pressure onto Sobhy.
After equalising at 1-1, El Tayeb looked to find another gear to go
into and really started to dictate play around the middle of the court.
The World No.8 looked to have so much time on the ball in all areas and
pushed and pulled Sobhy into all four corners of the court at pace. The
Egyptian never looked back after establishing a lead in game three and
closed out both the final games 11-5 to claim her 14th title of her
career and first title of the new season.
El Tayeb had this to say after her win:
“It was a big match for both me and Amanda today. I was excited and
looking forward to the match because I knew it would be enjoyable and
fair. I’m so happy to have won my biggest title in s few years it means
so much to win this thank you so much for everyone to making me feel so
welcome.
“Thanks to Engy Kheirallah, my coach. I’ve been working with her for a
few months and it’s made such a difference. I don’t think I would have
won this title without her or even still be playing.
“My goal is to just always play better. I know it sounds cliche but I
really think that if I play well and keep getting better, I can achieve
this [becoming World No.1] but for now I want to enjoy this and again,
just a big thank you to everyone.”
PSA World Tour action heads back to Philadelphia next week for the
third Platinum event of the new season, the U.S. Open. The action will
again be streamed live on SQUASHTV.
Results: South Western Open Presented by Cotidié - Final
