Sobhy Downs Blatchford-Clyne in All American Battle, World's Day 2 Report by Sean Reuthe
photos PSA
February 24, 2019
- United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy overcame the country’s No.2 player,
Olivia Blatchford Clyne, in Chicago’s Union Station to prevail in an
all-American battle in round two of the 2018-2019 PSA World
Championships presented by the Walter Family.
This season’s PSA World Championships offers up the biggest prize money
in the tournament’s history – with $1 million split equally between the
men’s and women’s events – and Sobhy will now carry US hopes on her
shoulders after coming back from a game down to beat Team USA teammate
Blatchford Clyne.
Sobhy had won five of their six PSA Tour meetings, with Blatchford’s
sole win coming at the 2017 Ciudad de Floridablanca after a ruptured
achilles saw Sobhy forced to retire. Blatchford Clyne started the
brighter of the pair to take the opener, but World No.10 Sobhy fought
back to claim an 6-11, 11-7, 11-1, 11-6 victory in 34 minutes.
“It’s never easy playing your teammate,” said 25-year-old Sobhy.
“64 players in the draw and of course you draw your teammate. We’ve
grown up playing against each other and it’s never easy. She had no
pressure on her and I probably had a bit more pressure on me and she
came out firing.
“It was a bit more dead tonight then it was last night, I think the
temperature has dropped quite a bit, so it was a bit of a lob-drop game
and not very many long rallies, but I’m really happy to get through and
make it through to the next round.”
Sobhy will play two-time World Champion Nour El Sherbini in the last
16. El Sherbini, the World No.2, was in formidable form to see off
Australia’s Christine Nunn, winning 11-2, 11-4, 11-6 to reach round
three.
The Egyptian will look to extend her two-match winning streak over the
American and has won five of their eight PSA matches, with Sobhy’s last
win against the 23-year-old coming at the 2016 Hong Kong Open.
“I needed to make sure that I played my game and got used to the court more,” El Sherbini said.
“We’re playing in a new venue, so you try to get used to everything.
It’s a new experience when there are train announcements while playing,
and it’s important for me to prepare with a good game plan and get
better match after match.”
Reigning champion Raneem El Welily also booked her place in the next
round after beating fellow Egyptian Hania El Hammamy and she will take
on England’s Alison Waters for a place in the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere, Malaysia’s legendary Nicol David – an eight-time World
Champion – kept her title hopes alive at what will be her final World
Championships after a dominant display saw the 35-year-old defeat World
No.22 Millie Tomlinson in straight games. The former World No.1 will
line up against France’s Camille Serme in the next round after Serme
overcame Scotland’s Lisa Aitken at the University Club of Chicago.
In the men’s event, World No.1 and defending champion Mohamed
ElShorbagy continued his title defence with a 3-1 win over Mexico’s
Cesar Salazar. The Mexican – who defeated twin brother, Arturo,
yesterday – got off to the perfect start against the defending World
Champion as he denied ElShorbagy two opportunities to take the lead.
However, the momentum swung in the favour of the Egyptian in the second
and he stayed ahead throughout the rest of the match to book his place
in the third round where he will take on Hong Kong’s Leo Au.
“He has beaten me once before, so he’s obviously someone who knows how
to beat me and I knew it was going to be tough from the first point,”
said ElShorbagy.
“Anything can happen and I knew with Cesar today that since he beat me
before, my turn could have been today. I felt sharper than yesterday
and sometimes when you get harder matches at the start of the
tournament, it can make you sharper.”
World No.2 Ali Farag – who will overtake ElShorbagy at the summit of
the PSA World Rankings on March 1 – will join his fellow Egyptian in
the last 16 after he eased past World Junior Champion Mostafa Asal,
beating the 17-year-old 11-1, 11-4, 11-2.
Farag will line up against another Egyptian, Mazen Hesham, in the third
round, with Hesham ending the run of World No.10 Diego Elias’s
conqueror, Adrian Waller.
“He’s the World Junior Champion for a reason,” said 26-year-old Farag following his win.
“He’s playing with a lot of confidence coming off the back of the
British Junior Open and I had to be on my metal from the first point.
We played in Cairo and it was not easy at all, especially in the second
game. He had multiple game balls, so I knew what to expect and I had to
be solid from the very beginning.”
At MetroSquash, Youssef Soliman – the World No.33 who scalped World
No.5 Karim Abdel Gawad yesterday – saw his giant-killing run come to an
end after he fell in five games to Welshman Joel Makin.
Meanwhile, 2010 runner-up James Willstrop and World No.7 Miguel
Rodriguez will meet in a mouthwatering encounter at Union Station
tomorrow after they beat Frenchman Victor Crouin and Scotland’s Alan
Clyne, respectively, at the University Club of Chicago.
Third round action begins on Monday February 25 at 12:00 (GMT-6) with
all eight matches taking place at Union Station. They will all be shown
live on SQUASHTV (Rest of World), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and
the PSA World Tour’s official Facebook page (Excluding Europe and
Japan).
Results – Men’s Second Round: 2018-2019 PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Cesar Salazar (MEX) 3-1: 10-12, 11-4, 11-8, 11-8 (55m)
Leo Au (HKG) bt Campbell Grayson (NZL) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 11-2 (45m)
[16] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [L] Victor Crouin (FRA) 3-1: 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 11-3 (52m)
[6] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) bt Alan Clyne (SCO) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 (47m)
[8] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Gregoire Marche (FRA) 3-1: 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 (56m)
[14] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt [L] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) 3-2: 13-15, 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9 (84m)
[9] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 3-2: 11-13, 13-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 (71m)
[4] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Tom Richards (ENG) 3-1: 8-11, 11-2, 11-4, 11-9 (42m)
[3] Simon Rösner (GER) bt Richie Fallows (ENG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-9 (38m)
Borja Golan (ESP) bt Ben Coleman (ENG) 3-1: 11-5, 11-6, 4-11, 11-7 (53m)
[11] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 13-11, 11-6, 11-8 (48m)
Joel Makin (WAL) bt Youssef Soliman (EGY) 3-2: 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 (82m)
[7] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 (48m)
[13] Fares Dessouky (EGY) bt Mohamed Reda (EGY) 3-1: 10-12, 11-4, 11-3, 11-7 (44m)
Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-1: 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 (49m)
[2] Ali Farag (EGY) bt Mostafa Asal (EGY) 3-0: 11-1, 11-4, 11-2 (26m)
Draw – Men’s Third Round (Top Half): To Be Played February 25th
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v Leo Au (HKG)
[16] James Willstrop (ENG) v [6] Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
[8] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v [14] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
[9] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v [4] Tarek Momen (EGY)
Draw – Men’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played February 26th
[3] Simon Rösner (GER) v Borja Golan (ESP)
[11] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Joel Makin (WAL)
[7] Paul Coll (NZL) v [13] Fares Dessouky (EGY)
Mazen Hesham (EGY) v [2] Ali Farag (EGY)
Draw – Women’s Third Round (Top Half): To Be Played February 25th
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [9] Alison Waters (ENG)
[15] Victoria Lust (ENG) v [8] Nouran Gohar (EGY)
[7] Laura Massaro (ENG) v [12] Annie Au (HKG)
[L] Melissa Alves (FRA) v [3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Draw – Women’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played February 26th
[4] Joelle King (NZL) v [18] Joey Chan (HKG)
[13] Nicol David (MAS) v [5] Camille Serme (FRA)
[6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v [10] Tesni Evans (WAL)
[11] Amanda Sobhy (USA) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
